Workers at Rogers Behavioral Health in Los Angeles have ratified their first union contract and will now be added to the existing collective agreement already agreed to by their counterparts in the Bay Area and San Diego.
The 15 behavioral specialists, therapists, registered nurses, and other mental health professionals made it a clean sweep with workers at all three of Rogers’ California locations becoming NUHW members.
“We feel grateful that (other workers) went through the process first and ironed this out for us,” said Natalie Barbrie, a licensed marriage and family therapist, who has worked at the Los Angeles clinic for the past three years.
Workers in Los Angeles will benefit from the gains made in September of 2024 when about 30 Rogers Mental Health caregivers in the Bay Area city of Walnut Creek won caseload limits and wage increases of up to 22 percent in their first union contract, inspiring their 23 counterparts in San Diego to follow suit and join NUHW as well.
Barbrie, who led the charge to get caregivers a $7,000 raise when she started working at the clinic, said that the wage increases that will now extend to Los Angeles were an incentive to unionize and be part of the collective agreement.
“When we saw the contracts and what they (Walnut Creek and San Diego) were getting and that they had caseload limits, we thought this would be great for us too,” she said.
The collective agreement that expires in 2027 also includes:
- Limits on caseloads and on how many newly-admitted patients can be assigned to a therapist or a registered nurse.
- A provision allowing workers to waive their no-strike clause, if the employer seeks to change working conditions.
- A prohibition against any job losses due to new technology such as artificial intelligence.
Caseload limits will be a big improvement for workers who have been dealing with severe staffing shortages, forcing them to assume extra responsibilities. “We wouldn’t have enough time to see everyone,” Barbrie said. “By the end of the day, we were exhausted and it led to burnout for both patients and staff.”
Barbrie said workers are already benefiting from the new contract.
A front desk staff member and a behavioral specialist have been hired to free up therapists’ time and reduce their workload.
“It’s given us strength as employees,” Barbrie said. “Having a contract means we don’t have to blindly agree to everything. We have boundaries and limits that we can adhere to.”
