After an unproductive bargaining session Wednesday, Kaiser Permanente’s nearly 2,400 mental health professionals will return to picket lines today, including the first picket line in Bakersfield since the strike began on Monday.
Thursday, Oct. 24 Picket Line Locations
Mental health professionals, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, will walk picket lines from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at the following locations:
- Bakersfield Kaiser Mental Health Offices, 4900 California Ave., Bakersfield
- San Diego Medical Center, 9455 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
- Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana
- Anaheim Medical Center, 3440 East La Palma Ave., Anaheim
- West Los Angeles Medical Center, 6041 Cadillac Ave., Los Angeles
There will be a lunchtime rally with community and elected leaders at all five strike locations. Click here for a full list of picket line locations and times for the first two weeks of the strike and here for a fact sheet about the strike.
State Regulators direct Kaiser patients to Help Center
Last year, the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) fined Kaiser $50 million, the largest fine in state history for violating state mental health parity laws. Kaiser’s violations included canceling 111,803 therapy sessions during a 10-week mental health care strike in Northern California.
This week, the agency announced that it will be monitoring access to behavioral health care at Kaiser throughout the strike.
“Health plans must continue to comply with the law during a labor strike, including meeting timely access standards and providing appropriate mental health and substance use disorder care to members,” DMHC Director Mary Watanabe said in the release. “The DMHC is monitoring Kaiser Permanente’s compliance with the law during the strike to ensure the plan is providing their members with appropriate access to necessary health care services.”
The agency instructed Kaiser members who have urgent needs or could not get resolution through Kaiser directly to contact the DMHC Help Center at 1-888-466-2219 or online at www.DMHC.ca.gov.
No Progress in Bargaining
Although Kaiser requested to negotiate on Wednesday, it offered no new proposals and ended the bargaining session early. Another negotiating session is scheduled for Friday.
“It’s disappointing to listen to Kaiser give excuses for offering us less time for patients than we need and less money and poorer benefits that our non-mental health counterparts receive,” said Lisa Carroll, a medical social worker in San Diego. “If Kaiser executives were serious about fixing its mental healthcare system, they wouldn’t be insisting on making us accept less than everyone else.”
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The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including more than 4,700 Kaiser mental health professionals.
