Kaiser mental health workers could strike tomorrow. What does that mean for patients?

Nearly 2,400 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers in Southern California say they’re ready to start picketing Monday if the health care provider can't meet demands aimed at reducing employee turnover and improving patient care.

Psychologists, social workers, therapists and other mental health professionals overwhelmingly approved the strike authorization early this month.

“A lot of clinicians are saying, ‘Enough is enough,’” Marisela Calvillo, a Kaiser psychiatric counselor told LAist. “You know, like, treat mental health like you would in every other department. Make it something that is more based off of quality and not the quantity of patients.”

Calvillo, who has worked for Kaiser more than two years, said she and other counselors are working to prepare their patients for a possible strike by encouraging them to advocate for themselves to receive care if appointments are canceled.

In a statement, Kaiser said it’s taking the looming work stoppage seriously.

“We are making the necessary preparations to enable our members to have access to mental health and addiction medicine services if the union calls on our mental health professionals to walk away from their patients,” a company spokesperson said in an email.

Worker demands

Kaiser mental health workers say they are seeing between 10-18 patients a day and are not getting enough time to manage their duties outside of client appointments.

They said they want the HMO to provide workers seven hours of guaranteed time per week to handle things like sending emails, filling out patient charts and other duties.

Union members who spoke with LAist said therapists are regularly staying at work hours after their shifts have ended in order to keep up with the workload.

“A lot of clinicians have given feedback about burnout, and we see clinicians leave all of the time,” Calvillo said.

Fred Seavey, a researcher with the National Union of Healthcare Workers, said that plays out in the data on employee turnover.

From 2021 through August 2024, Kaiser hired 1,508 new therapists, Seavey said. But one in four of those newly hired therapists has already left Kaiser.

Seavey said one Southern California Kaiser patient reported having three different therapists in one year because the first two quit.

That kind of turnover is bad for patient care, Seavey said.

“Imagine going into your therapist and telling your story and then building up that relationship. And then your therapist says, ‘Hey, by the way, this is your last appointment because I’m leaving Kaiser.'”

The union members are also demanding the HMO restore pensions and agree to better pay.

In an Oct. 3 email, a Kaiser spokesperson said its proposal includes six hours a week for planning and preparation as well as an 18% wage increase over four years.

The role of a $200 million settlement

The possible strike comes about a year after state regulators hit Kaiser with a $50 million fine for failing to provide timely access to mental health care and other problems.

As part of the settlement agreement, Kaiser committed to investing an additional $150 million over five years to expand and improve behavioral health care for members.

Seavey said Kaiser has yet to finalize a corrective action plan in response to the settlement agreement.

What we know from previous strikes

During the National Union of Healthcare Workers’ Northern California strike in 2022, Kaiser canceled nearly 112,000 appointments affecting more than 63,000 enrollees, according to a settlement agreement between Kaiser and the California Department of Managed Health Care.

According to court documents, thousands of those appointments were rescheduled, but Seavey said some patients were given classes rather than therapeutic appointments.

He said those basic courses didn’t provide the same level of care as an individual therapy session.

The 2022 strike in Northern California lasted about 10 weeks. Those union members ultimately won better wages and more protected time to fill out patients’ charts and handle other duties outside of appointments.

What’s next?

The last scheduled day for negotiations between the union and Kaiser was Thursday of this week. If an agreement cannot be reached, mental health workers are prepared to go on strike on Monday, Oct. 21.

In a news release, the National Union of Healthcare Workers said it was calling on state regulators to require Kaiser to let its Southern California members know about their rights to receive ongoing care during a possible work stoppage.

LAist followed up with questions about Kaiser’s contingency plan if the strike happens and will update this story accordingly.