Today in bargaining, Kaiser representatives came to the table once again with nothing.They also declined our request to involve mediators, saying the parties are still too far apart (because they won’t budge).
On our part, we presented the Employer with revised proposals on the following:
- After-hours coverage in the ED – modified our proposal to allow the Employer to continue involuntary call until the end of this year, to allow time to hire more dedicated staff
- Shift Differential – reduced the increase we are asking for from $4.50/hour to $4/hour
- Performance Improvement Bonus – modified proposal to allow Employer to determine metrics, but targets would have to be mutually agreed upon
- Holidays – maintained our proposal for adding a float holiday, but removed language that would have required Employer to automatically grant the day requested in some circumstances
- Health & Welfare Benefits – agreed to Employer proposed language to codify Vision Benefits in the contract, but maintained our proposal to increase lifetime orthodontia coverage to $2000 per child and to provide an alternative to Delta Dental.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Attached is a side-by-side comparison of the items that remain open in bargaining. As you can see when reviewing this document, our proposals are modest – wage increases and minor benefit improvements to keep up with what other KP employees have received, an additional float holiday and changes in contract language that put our contract in line with other union contracts.
On the other hand, Kaiser has not moved on its onerous takeaway proposals, which they refer to as the “KP Three”. These Big Bad Three would:
- effectively eliminate IPC time and allow managers to fill psychiatry department schedules with 7 to 8 patients per day
- eliminate new to return ratios with no guard rails and could result in providers being overwhelmed with intakes, with patients waiting months for return treatment appointment
- give free rein to KP to eliminate entire departments or shift our work more and more to unlicensed staff or even AI, even if this results in massive lay-offs.
