Bargaining update: August 20, 2024

The Employer, in its “Bargaining Update” of our August 15th negotiations, implied they had given us a counterproposal on Patient Management Time.  We never received such a proposal.  They concluded their update by saying they  “look forward to additional discussion with the union regarding Patient Management Time” on August 20.

However, when we met yesterday, KP management would not discuss the subject of workload distribution and PMT and even refused to let us know if they were willing to increase the amount of PMT.

They did provide us with a few counter proposals, which were mostly disappointing and in some cases, even insulting.  For example, in responding to our proposal regarding the introduction of new technology, they removed a provision that says they will not implement any new technology in a manner that would put our licenses in jeopardy, even though this provision is in Kaiser’s  contract with the California Nurses Association.

Overall, our last two bargaining sessions have been discouraging, with KP leadership spending minimal time with us and summarily dismissing the majority of our non-economic proposals, and closing off any meaningful dialogue. In KP’s next bargaining update, they will likely tout that we reached two more Tentative Agreements yesterday.  But these were very minor – adding ADAPT to the list of facilities in the “Reduction in Force” article of the contract and cleaning up the job description language to reflect changes made since the last contract.

One positive note from yesterday’s meeting was that they offered one more date for bargaining, September 30th, the last day before our contract expires.

We remain open to collaboration and hope Kaiser will take our proposals seriously and engage in productive, sincere discussions.  However, this hasn’t been our experience so far. The next bargaining session is critical for us to be taken seriously and to see a genuine commitment from Kaiser towards progress on our terms.

We are doing everything we can to reach agreeable terms with Kaiser, but, given the current tenor of bargaining, we are seriously discussing not if, but when, we will call for a vote to authorize an open-ended strike.

All members invited to attend bargaining

As a reminder, our bargaining sessions are open to all members. The more of us who attend, the stronger our message to Kaiser. Upcoming bargaining dates are August 29, September 4, September 16, September 24 and September 30. The last two sessions will be in person and the rest are virtual.  You can RSVP here for any of the sessions. To show solidarity, wear something red when you come.

Check out our new NUHW Psych-Social contract campaign webpage!

We have updated our NUHW Psych-Social webpage to act as a campaign website. Click on this link to find bargaining updates, important information about our contract campaign, and important resources, including access to a recorded version of our recent workshop on Starting a Private Practice. To access the recording, you can find it under “Tips for Starting a Private Practice.”