Nearly 2,400 Kaiser mental health professionals in Southern California are heading into the holidays poised to still be on what is poised to become the longest mental health strike in California history.
Since Kaiser is keeping patients from their mental health therapists during the holidays, striking workers and community allies traveled to the HMO’s corporate headquarters in Pasadena to send a Christmas message of their own: Stop being a Scrooge when it comes to mental health care.
Leaning further into the holiday theme, several workers dressed in Grinch costumes while hundreds more marched through Pasadena streets carrying a giant cardboard heart since Kaiser’s is clearly too small. Many also received food and toys from the Los Angeles Labor Federation.
“The second I saw the toys, I started crying,” said Jade Rosado, a Kaiser therapist with three children. “Just to be able to choose something I knew my kids would enjoy, it brought me a lot of relief.”
Several speakers addressed the strikers outside Kaiser headquarters, including State Senator Sasha Perez. As the rally continued, workers breached the security barricade and gathered at the front of the building, chanting for Kaiser to “Settle it now!”
The moment was especially profound for Rosado, who was named a Kaiser “Everyday Hero” in August for helping save a patient’s life, and saw the banners for her fellow “Everyday Hero” recipients hanging inside the corporate office.
“It just made me think that all of us are heroes, so why don’t we get the same benefits, wage increases, and patient care time as other Kaiser workers,” Rosado said. “Kaiser is profiting off our labor, but they’re not incentivizing us to stay.”
Many of the strikers held up a letter, signed by a majority of California Assembly members, calling on Kaiser to settle the contract on our terms (see below for details). They eventually left several of the letters on top of the heart for Kaiser to keep.
“My heart is full of gratitude and joy,” Ligia Pacheco, a Kaiser therapist, said after the event. “After receiving the food and toy donations, our gratitude turned into powerful chanting that reflects the solidarity we continue to have.”
As striking workers turned up the pressure on Kaiser, so did their allies. A majority of state legislators signed onto letters calling on Kaiser to settle a contract on the workers’ terms, as did the National Association of Social Workers.
Meanwhile, there were a growing number of reports of patients struggling to get care from Kaiser during the strike and violations of state law, including instances of Kaiser forcing patients onto 30-day appointment waitlists, failing to staff its hospice services adequately, and sending patients with severe conditions to an outside provider unequipped to care for them.
“Kaiser has nothing to stand on,” Jeremy Simpkin, a Kaiser therapist, said during the December 10 rally. “Bigger giants have fallen and have pressure from every angle.”
