Kaiser mental health workers vote to ratify new contract, ending monthslong strike

Kaiser Permanente mental health workers who had been on strike for months voted this week to ratify a new four-year contract, an agreement that is expected to bring the workers higher wages, better benefits and dedicated work hours outside of patient care.

Most of the roughly 2,400 therapists, psychologists and social workers in Southern California had been on strike since October. They are scheduled to return to work this week.

While negotiations between the union and Kaiser resulted in several gains for the mental health workers, they did not get all they were asking for. For example, they wanted seven hours of guaranteed time to handle patient care outside of appointments. They agreed to five hours.

The National Union of Health Care Workers said the six-month strike was the longest by mental health workers in U.S. history.

“There’s a lot of, you know, relief, I think, but also disappointment,” Adriana Webb, a medical social worker at Kaiser Panorama City who was on the union’s bargaining committee, told LAist. “We did not accomplish everything that I believe we deserve.”

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it was “pleased to have reached this agreement and to have our mental health clinicians return to caring for our members and patients across Southern California.” 

Kaiser also accused the union of disparaging the health organization and misrepresenting facts. 

“The truth is that the key issues in bargaining were the union’s demands for much higher wages, a different pension, and much less time spent treating patients,” Kaiser said in the statement.

What the union got

Union workers gained ground on the three key areas they were striking on, including:

• Five guaranteed hours per week for full-time therapists to handle patient care outside of appointments, including making treatment plans and coordinating with social service agencies. 
•  20% raises over four years. 
• A new pension plan that guarantees retirement income with interest gains not tied to the stock market. The union had been pushing for what it called Kaiser’s “more lucrative” standard pension plan, which it said “nearly all” other employees get. 

The union said the terms of the agreement should help to improve delivery of care for members and staff.

Background on the strike

The strike came more than 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 that settlement agreement, Kaiser committed to investing an additional $150 million over five years to expand and improve behavioral health care for members.

However, union members have repeatedly said that, so far, those investments have not translated to better experiences for patients and working conditions for employees. For months, hundreds of workers picketed outside Kaiser’s medical center’s in Hollywood, Panorama City and other locations across Southern California.

Several demonstrators were arrested during a February protest in front of Kaiser’s Hollywood medical center and eight mental health care workers participated in a five-day hunger strike.

Over the course of the strike, Kaiser accused the union of demanding “significantly higher pay in return for providing substantially less care.”

In a February letter, Gov. Gavin Newsom urged  Greg Adams, CEO of Kaiser Permanente, and Sophia Mendoza, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers, to settle the strike through mediation.

Newsom noted that Southern California residents “are grappling with extreme loss and displacement” after the fires.

“Getting our full behavioral health workforce back to work gives us the best chance to address the needs that will undoubtedly grow in the weeks and months to come in the Los Angeles region and elsewhere,” he said.

But the strike dragged on, and negotiations stalled.

Within the last month, the union said negotiations picked up in part because of former California Health Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly and former Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who acted as mediators.

As of Wednesday, the tally was 1,799 votes from union members to 24 to ratify the new contract with Kaiser, according to the union.

In its statement issued Thursday, Kaiser said the agreement "includes provisions for a new model of care, which will build on the strengths of our existing model in Southern California."

The health care provider stressed that it was able to provide timely access to care during the strike, partly through its "extensive network of more than 13,000 mental health providers."

The union said in a statement Thursday that the “struggle to achieve parity for mental health care at Kaiser is far from over.” The union has said pay for mental health therapists should be commensurate with what physical therapists are paid.

The union is pushing for other changes through the state Legislature.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers pointed to two bills it’s sponsoring in Sacramento. Assembly Bill 1429 aims to make it easier for Kaiser members to get reimbursed for out-of-pocket mental health care expenses. Senate Bill 747 would provide transparency on the difference in pay between Kaiser mental health workers and some medical employees.