Kaiser management did not have the courage to face us in bargaining today and sent their lonely labor relations consultant, with his note taker, to speak on their behalf. However, he had nothing to say and no new proposals for us.

But we had plenty to say. First the two dozen members who attended bargaining today each stood and introduced themselves and told why they had come. A few themes emerged, such as:

• To advocate for patients, who are not getting the care they need or deserve
• To convince Kaiser they need to fix their broken behavioral healthcare system
• To call management out for their lies
• To support each other and their bargaining team
• To fight for equitable pay and benefits we all deserve, as well as sustainable workload
• To let Kasiser know they were willing to stay out on strike for as  long as it takes to achieve our collective goals

After introductions, we gave their negotiator a comprehensive proposal on 20 of 23 remaining issues (everything but wages, pensions and Patient Management Time). Our package included revisions of five of our proposals, withdrawal of one, and agreement on two. We said we were hoping to have meaningful dialog about several of the proposals that we were not changing. This really was not possible because management chose not to show up. Nonetheless, we gave their negotiator our thoughts on why Kaiser should seriously consider several of these proposals, such as:

• Hiring new employees at advanced steps that gives them year for year credit for experience would aid recruitment
• Giving new hire RNs extra pay for earning a BSN would match what other RNs in Kaiser get
• Associates who get their licenses should start receiving the licensed pay rate as soon as possible, since they are doing the same work as those already licensed and the language we are proposing is the same as NorCal has had for 25 years
• Associates should be allowed to use ed leave to study for licensure exams, just like their counterparts in NorCal
• Kaiser should commit to budget for backfill, so they have the staff, including per diems, to replace employees who are absent for any reason (vacation, LOA, etc) so Social Workers in Social services and Care at Home don’t have to consistently take on extra work and shortchanges patients
• There is no justification to continue to deny Psychiatric RNs’ access to the Student Loan Repayment Program
• Dentists are leaving Delta Dental in droves because of Delta’s low reimbursement rates and if they don’t like our proposals on how to address this, they need to come up with one of their own, since this affects all of their employees, not just us

After we presented our proposal, we caucused for a couple of hours to give KP’s negotiator time to respond, but at 2 p.m. he informed us he would not have a response today.  This was not totally unexpected and we wouldn’t be surprised if they come again on Friday with nothing.  

They are trying to pretend that our strike is not phasing them – but we know it is and we know it is utter chaos inside.  Replacement workers are already walking out, Rula providers are refusing to take on more KP providers, and they are already doubling the exorbitant rates they had previously offered external providers. The DMHC is monitoring them, elected officials are on our side, Professional organizations are publicly supporting us, KP’s PR campaign on social media is backfiring with patients posting negative comments faster than Kaiser can take them down. 

Kaiser knows that cannot sustain us being on strike for very long, so they want to make us think it is hopeless. But they simply do not understand what we know – that one day longer makes us one day stronger.