Three Labor Actions at Kaiser Hospitals, OUSD OEA and UBER/Lyft Drivers In SF

12/10 BA Three Labor Actions Kaiser, OUSD OEA and UBER/Lyft Drivers

National Union of Healthcare Workers on strike at Kaiser this week.


San Francisco Medical Center
2425 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94115

picketing on Monday from 6am to 4pm.
rally at 12:30pm on Monday

reply back to let us know if you can join us at the Living Wage Coalition banner.


five-day strike by 4,000 licensed mental health clinicians and healthcare professionals represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers

Kaiser 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
multiple mental health violations.

Kaiser 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
clinics are vastly understaffed and that patients with conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder often wait one and two months between treatment appointments.

Despite months of bargaining and Kaiser’s stated desire to improve its relationship with its mental health clinicians, there is still no contract.

Kaiser 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.

Meanwhile, 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.

Kaiser should use its vast resources, including $9.8 billion in net income since 2016, to help accomplish full mental health parity.

Kaiser mental health workers to strike for 5 days

Michael Cabanatuan Dec. 9, 2018


Registered 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.

Thousands 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.

About 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.

Kaiser 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.

The 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.

A 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.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan [at] sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan


https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Kaiser-mental-health-workers-to-strike-for-5-days-13452791.php?src=hp_totn


On 12/10 OEA Oakland High teachers plan walkout to protest teacher pay

https://www.eastbaytimes.com/2018/12/08/oakland-high-teachers-plan-walkout-to-protest-teacher-pay/

Teachers at Oakland High School are planning a walkout to protest an impasse in contract negotiations.

Thy VoDecember 8, 2018 at 1:12 pm

Oakland High teachers plan walkout to protest teacher pay
OAKLAND — At least 75 teachers at Oakland High School are planning a walkout Monday to protest an impasse in contract negotiations, according an organizer.

There are “rumblings” that teachers from other schools may join the walkout, Oakland Unified School District spokesman John Sasaki said Saturday.

In 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.”

Oakland 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.

“I got a flurry of responses from teachers saying, ‘good, that means they care,’ and that they’re definitely still in,” said Murray.

Murray 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.

“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.”

OEA President Keith Brown did not immediately return a request for comment Saturday afternoon.

Oakland 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.

The 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.

Murray 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.

“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.

While 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.

“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.”

Sasaki said the district heard about the walkout a few days ago and has arranged for substitutes to fill in for teachers who participate.

Murray said the district has “scrambled” to find adequate substitutes teachers on a regular basis and questioned whether the district can supply enough substitute teachers.

“That’s not accurate. Instruction will continue as usual,” Sasaki said.

Teachers 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.

“We’re working hard to find an agreement between the two sides that makes both sides happy,” said Sasaki.

Contact Thy Vo at 408-200-1055 or at tvo [at] bayareanewsgroup.com.

12/10/18
UBER/Lyft Drivers To Rally at SF City Hall 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
thealliance [at] outlook.com