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No More Kaiser Suicides! NUHW Members Strike Kaiser Health System

by Labor Video Project
Two thousand Kaiser NUHW healthcare workers went on an indefinite strike on August 15, 2022 for proper staffing and compensation to keep healthcare professionals on the jobs. As a result of a lack of proper staffing, Members and patients at Kaisers have committed suicide. Clinicians
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Two thousand Kaiser psychologists, social workers and therapists went on an indefinite strike against Kaiser on Monday August 15, 2022. Kaiser has refused to fully staff their facilities and the result has been long waits for care and massive turnover of the staff leading stress and even higher burnout of the present staff.

Additionally Kaiser managers and the CEO who make hundreds of thousands of dollars have been fined millions of dollars for refusing to provide mental health care in a timely fashion.

According to speakers at the rally in San Francisco there have been flagrant violations of state and federal law by Kaiser which required equal treatment for both physical and mental health needs.

This according to clinicians has led to suicides of the members of Kaiser. Additionally the IUOE Local 39 Stationary Engineers whose previous strike earlier was broken have agreed to support the sanctioned picket line. There are millions of workers many of them who are trade unionists who are also members of Kaiser.

Also strikers did a dance for a video on ticktock.

Additional Media:
MLK Day Strike By NUHW Kaiser Mental Healthcare Workers To Stop Systemic Racism & To Provide Care
https://youtu.be/c-be9pAQAQs

SEIU UHW Kaiser Workers Join IOUE 39 Members On Picket Line In SF
https://youtu.be/6bno55gGmps

Don't Deny My Patients! 4,000 NUHW CA Kaiser Healthcare Workers Start 5 Day Strike
https://youtu.be/es_9jkSXdUA

Kaiser Suicides And Murders From Profiteering & Cost Shifting: Justice For Patients & NUHW Workers!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3JCz2gbEow&t=47s

NUHW 2019 CA Kaiser Strike & NUHW President Sal Rosselli
https://youtu.be/z5oL7rN7wmo

Kaiser NUHW Workers Strike Against Short Staffing Threatening Healthcare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8SjlVXpmAI&t=12s

Kaiser Bosses STOP Killing Peri Ho! Family & Supporters Speak Out At SF Kaiser
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_ESZtL6jU8&t=15s

Kaiser IUOE 39 Striker "We're On Verge Of What Could Be The Biggest Healthcare Strike In American History"
https://youtu.be/11cj6A9g0fE

IUOE 39 Kaiser Strike Workers Solidarity As 700 Continue Picketing
https://youtu.be/2xpMuOBIO8I

700 IUOE Local 39 Engineers Strike N. Cal Kaiser For Prevailing Wages & Conditions
https://youtu.be/o-hH5IsO5vM

Additional info:
http://www.nuhw.org

Production of Labor Video Project
http://www.labormedia.net
§No More Kaiser Suicides
by Labor Video Project
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A striking NUHW clinician Annessa Larson talked about the reasons for suicides.
§On The Picket Line
by Labor Video Project
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Picketers at the San Francisco Kaiser hospital on the picket line for proper staffing and against profiteering by Kaiser management.
§Fair Contract For Kaiser Healthcare Workers
by Labor Video Project
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Workers are demanding conditions that allow them to take proper care of their health needs.
Add Your Comments

Comments (Hide Comments)
by NUWH Supporter
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Who Gets What at Kaiser

Created in 1945, with the backing of labor unions, and its main office being in Oakland, California, multi-million dollar private profit Kaiser is now staunchly anti-labor, paying off its 100 top executives with multi-million dollar salaries while its labor force is overworked and underpaid. With a net worth in 2021 of $43.3 billion according to the California Department of Managed Health Care, salaries are 231-1 and Greg Adams, the chief executive in Oakland, received $17.3 million in total compensation. He is among 100 top executives who have a choice of 8 pension plans. (https://www.laprogressive.com/labor-social-justice/kaiser-strike, 8/16/22, https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/leadership-team/national- leaders, https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/leadership-team/board-of- directors)

Kaiser claims to be a non-profit Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) and therefore pays no income taxes. (https://emma.msrb.org/P11604804- P11237706-P11660822.pdf p. 14, hereafter “Emma”). Kaiser is subject to all kinds of state and federal laws and regulations, and the California Attorney General has enforcement powers by definition for the state laws and regulations. (https://emma.msrb.org/P11604804-P11237706-P11660822.pdf p.54)

The doctors belong to 8 Permanente Medical Groups and are indemnified by Kaiser for liability claims. ( https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we- are/permanente-medicine/permanente-medical-groups, https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/permanente-medicine/the- permanente-federation, https://permanente.org/about-us/our-medical-groups/, https://emma.msrb.org/P11604804-P11237706-P11660822.pd

p. 55)

Kaiser physicians are paid adequately compared to national standards, but for the San Francisco Bay Area, their salaries are low, compared to private practice physicians. The main benefit for the doctors is they do not have to pay administrative costs or manage an office; they just practice medicine. See https://www.indeed.com/cmp/Kaiser-Permanente/salaries/Physician, https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Kaiser-Permanente-Physician-Salary--in- California, https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Physician_%2F_Doctor%2C_Internal _Medicine/Salary/b7affc89/Kaiser-Permanente


Nationally, Kaiser’s finances in 2021 were as follows:
$8.1 billion in net income
$93.1 billion in operating revenues
$3.5 billion in capital spending.
$2.6 billion in community health programs.
$611 million in operating income. https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/annual-reports/2021-annual-report

Kaiser also has $54 billion in reserves.

https://www.courthousenews.com/california-lawmakers-probe-mental-health-care- crisis-looming-kaiser-strike/8/10/22

The profits and pension plans are all means of investments to make more money to enrich the directors and top executives who are clearly skimming the cream off the top. https://emma.msrb.org/P11604804-P11237706-P11660822.pdf, p. 8, et seq.

About 75% of Kaiser’s members are in California, and the California members constitute almost 25% or 9.4 million for Northern and Southern California combined of California’s 40 million population. https://about.kaiserpermanente.org/who-we-are/fast-facts

On August 15, 2022, an open-ended strike was started by 2,000 psychologists, therapists, counselors and social workers in the mental health division of Kaiser, led by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) which represents 16,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii. https://www.courthousenews.com/california-lawmakers-probe-mental-health-care- crisis-looming-kaiser-strike/, 8/10/22, https://nuhw.org/about/, https://nuhw.org/category/press-releases/, https://nuhw.org/news-and-press/kaiser/, and updated daily press coverage at https://nuhw.org/news-and-press/kaiser/press- coverage-kaiser-mental-health/

In violation of the law, Kaiser immediately cancelled all of the appointments in the Mental Health Division, prompting the union to write an August 11, 2022 letter to the California Department of Managed Health Care, with a copy to Attorney General Rob Bonta, and others. The letter states that they have patients who are in serious danger of suicide See https://nuhw.org/sb221/, https://nuhw.org/kaiser-dont-deny/kaiser-strike/, https://nuhw.org/wp- content/uploads/NUHW-Complaint_DMHC_CareCancellationStrike_8-10-

2022.pdf, https://www.courthousenews.com/mental-health-workers-on-strike-at- hospital-giant-kaiser/ 8/15/22

As of August 17, 2022, 1600 follow-up care therapy appointments have been cancelled. See https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/kaiser-mental-health-strike- canceled-appointments/629915/

Senate Bill 221, which requires the next appointment be within 10 days, has been in effect for over a month. https://www.courthousenews.com/california-lawmakers-probe-mental-health-care- crisis-looming-kaiser-strike/, 8/10/22

Kaiser is legally required to provide the same level of care during a strike no matter the cost. See https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/16/the-strike-at- kaiser/

As of 7/27/22, waiting periods have been for 6 weeks or more. See

https://capitalandmain.com/therapists-flee-kaiser-as-mental-health-patients- languish 7/27/22

The American Psychological Association condemned Kaiser for its delayed access to mental health care in 2021, and nothing has changed. See https://capitalandmain.com/inside-kaiser-permanentes-broken-behavioral-health- care-system-0503, 5/3/21

Patients are waiting 4 to 11 weeks for care. See

https://medcitynews.com/2022/08/inside-kaisers-strike-mental-health-workers-say- they-refuse-to-keep-providing-subpar-care/

NUHW wants 9 hours a week for administrative work and 31 hours a week for care, while Kaiser is demanding 7.2 for administrative and 32.8 for care. Considering how exhausting this work is and the possibility of suicide, the union’s demands are reasonable. See https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and- medicine/article264529166.html, 8/15/22

Wages are also an issue as the pay is $73.73 as of 2021, while a private therapist can charge $250 per hour. See https://capitalandmain.com/therapists- flee-kaiser-as-mental-health-patients-languish 7/27/21. In San Francisco, $73 per hour is just enough to support one person decently, renting an apartment.
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