BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
X-WR-CALNAME:www.indybay.org
PRODID:-//indybay/ical// v1.0//EN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:Indybay-18819686
SEQUENCE:18964558
CREATED:20181209T205600Z
DESCRIPTION:12/10 BA Three Labor Actions Kaiser, OUSD OEA and UBER/Lyft 
 Drivers\n\nNational Union of Healthcare Workers on strike at Kaiser this 
 week. \n\n\nSan Francisco Medical Center          \n2425 Geary Blvd, San 
 Francisco, CA 94115\n\npicketing on Monday from 6am to 4pm.\nrally at 
 12:30pm on Monday \n\nreply back to let us know if you can join us at the 
 Living Wage Coalition banner.\n\n\nfive-day strike by 4,000 licensed mental 
 health clinicians and healthcare professionals represented by the National 
 Union of Healthcare Workers \n\nKaiser has not yet solved the 
 well-documented problems affecting its mental health services. It has been 
 more than five years since the Department of Managed Health Care fined 
 Kaiser $4 million for committing\nmultiple mental health violations. 
 \n\nKaiser remains under a state-issued “cease and desist” order and is 
 subject to a state-ordered monitoring program scheduled to remain in place 
 until 2020. Meanwhile, mental health therapists report that many\nclinics 
 are vastly understaffed and that patients with conditions such as 
 depression and bipolar disorder often wait one and two months between 
 treatment appointments. \n\nDespite months of bargaining and Kaiser’s 
 stated desire to improve its relationship with its mental health 
 clinicians, there is still no contract. \n\nKaiser plays a vital role in 
 California’s mental health delivery system as our state’s largest HMO 
 and its largest private-sector provider of mental health services. A number 
 of important developments signals the need for increased investment in our 
 society’s mental health services. A 2018 study by the California Health 
 Care Foundation found that nearly two-thirds of adults with a mental 
 illness do not receive treatment.\n\nMeanwhile, our society struggles with 
 the opioid crisis, the vast numbers of people with mental illness who live 
 on our streets, and the ongoing societal stigma attached to mental illness. 
 \n\nKaiser should use its vast resources, including $9.8 billion in net 
 income since 2016, to help accomplish full mental health parity.\n\nKaiser 
 mental health workers to strike for 5 days\n\nMichael Cabanatuan Dec. 9, 
 2018\n\n\nRegistered nurses and supporters protest outside of a Kaiser 
 Permanente facility in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Thousands of 
 Kaiser mental health clinicians plan to start a five-day strike on Monday 
 over what they call needlessly long waits for appointments with therapists. 
 \n\nThousands of mental health workers for Kaiser-Permanente are expected 
 to start a five-day statewide strike Monday to protest what they consider 
 chronic understaffing leading to lengthy waits for treatment.\n\nAbout 
 4,000 clinicians — psychologists, therapists, social workers, psychiatric 
 nurses and addiction medicine specialists — represented by the National 
 Union of Healthcare Workers are scheduled to strike Monday through Friday. 
 They’ll set up picket lines outside dozens of Kaiser facilities around 
 the state, including busy Bay Area locations in San Francisco and 
 Oakland.\n\nKaiser officials said in a statement that their facilities will 
 remain open and that they have plans in place to ensure members will 
 receive needed care.\n\nThe union contends that Kaiser members who need 
 mental health care face unreasonable waits for therapy appointments due to 
 the organization’s failure to increase its staffing levels. Kaiser says 
 the union’s main concern is increasing its workers’ wages, which are 
 already competitive.Staffing for mental health care has been a lingering 
 issue at Kaiser. In 2015, Kaiser agreed to pay a $4 million fine levied in 
 2013 by state regulators over inadequate access to its mental health 
 services.\n\nA threatened strike later that same year was averted with a 
 last-minute deal that included an agreement to work together to improve 
 mental health care. Since then, Kaiser says, it has increased the number of 
 therapists by 30 percent. The union contends that the ratio of mental 
 health workers to members has not significantly increased.\n\nMichael 
 Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: 
 mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: 
 @ctuan\n\n\nhttps://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Kaiser-mental-health-workers-to-strike-for-5-days-13452791.php?src=hp_totn\n\n\nOn 
 12/10 OEA Oakland High teachers plan walkout to protest teacher 
 pay\n\nhttps://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/12/08/oakland-high-teachers-plan-walkout-to-protest-teacher-pay/\n\nTeachers 
 at Oakland High School are planning a walkout to protest an impasse in 
 contract negotiations.\n\nThy VoDecember 8, 2018 at 1:12 pm\n\nOakland High 
 teachers plan walkout to protest teacher pay\nOAKLAND — At least 75 
 teachers at Oakland High School are planning a walkout Monday to protest an 
 impasse in contract negotiations, according an organizer.\n\nThere are 
 “rumblings” that teachers from other schools may join the walkout, 
 Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said Saturday.\n\nIn 
 an email to teachers Saturday morning, the district warned calling in sick 
 or taking a personal leave en masse is “an illegal labor action” and 
 “teachers who call in sick under these circumstances will potentially be 
 subject to disciplinary action and loss of pay.”\n\nOakland High English 
 teacher Miles Murray, one of the organizers of the walkout, said the email 
 has emboldened 75 of the school’s 90 teachers who have indicated they 
 will participate.\n\n“I got a flurry of responses from teachers saying, 
 ‘good, that means they care,’ and that they’re definitely still 
 in,” said Murray.\n\nMurray said the walkout is not sanctioned by the 
 district’s teachers’ union, the Oakland Education Association (OEA), 
 which is currently negotiating a new contract with the district. Teachers 
 have been working without a contract since July 2017.\n\n“They’re 
 probably going to get in legal trouble for it,” said Murray of the OEA. 
 “The union has been escalating and encouraging teachers to participate in 
 a number of different legal actions, but teachers at my school didn’t 
 feel they were escalating fast enough, considering the insulting offers 
 from the district.”\n\nOEA President Keith Brown did not immediately 
 return a request for comment Saturday afternoon.\n\nOakland Unified is 
 facing a budget crisis and is expected to make deep cuts next year in order 
 to cut $60 million from its budget by the 2020-21 fiscal year. Those cuts 
 are likely to include the closing and consolidating of several 
 schools.\n\nThe board has been criticized by the state and an Alameda 
 County civil grand jury for failing to make difficult political decisions. 
 If the district fails to follow through with its deficit-cutting plans, 
 they could risk a state takeover. \n\nMurray says while the district claims 
 it can’t afford to pay teachers a living wage and cut down on class 
 sizes, it has also increased spending on vendors, consultants and 
 administration.\n\n“We have the lowest pay in the Bay and the highest 
 percentage of…money funneled from classrooms and teachers to outside 
 consultants to the growing charter school movement,” Murray 
 said.\n\nWhile the walkout may affect students, Murray said teachers want 
 to draw attention to issues like classroom size that affect the quality of 
 students’ education every day.\n\n“If teachers can’t afford to live 
 in the city where they work…that affects quality of education,” Murray 
 said. “It’s a short-term, one-day crisis to draw attention to this 
 ongoing crisis.”\n\nSasaki said the district heard about the walkout a 
 few days ago and has arranged for substitutes to fill in for teachers who 
 participate.\n\nMurray said the district has “scrambled” to find 
 adequate substitutes teachers on a regular basis and questioned whether the 
 district can supply enough substitute teachers.\n\n“That’s not 
 accurate. Instruction will continue as usual,” Sasaki said.\n\nTeachers 
 will convene in front of the school starting at 7:30 a.m. and march 
 downtown, where they will hold a rally at city hall, said 
 Murray.\n\n“We’re working hard to find an agreement between the two 
 sides that makes both sides happy,” said Sasaki.\n\nContact Thy Vo at 
 408-200-1055 or at tvo@bayareanewsgroup.com.\n\n12/10/18\nUBER/Lyft Drivers 
 To Rally at SF City Hall 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM\nthealliance@outlook.com\n\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/09/18819686.php
SUMMARY:Three Labor Actions at Kaiser Hospitals, OUSD OEA and UBER/Lyft Drivers In SF
LOCATION:Kaiser Hospitals bay area\nOakland OEA Oakland High\nUBER/Lyft Workers 
 Rally at SF City Hall
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2018/12/09/18819686.php
DTSTART:20181210T140000Z
DTEND:20181211T020000Z
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR