Kaiser Permanente mental health professionals represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers began a weeklong statewide strike today to protest what they say is Kaiser’s “chronic failure to provide … quality mental health care.”
According to the union, picketing was taking place today around the state, including at the following Southern California locations:
— West Los Angeles Medical Center, 6041 Cadillac Ave., West Los Angeles;
— Anaheim Medical Center, 3440 E. La Palma Ave., Anaheim;
— San Diego Medical Center, 4647 Zion Ave., San Diego; and
— Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana.
“Kaiser Permanente’s 2,600 California mental health clinicians — psychologists, therapists, and social workers represented by the (NUHW) –will launch a statewide strike (today) to protest Kaiser’s chronic failure to provide its members with timely, quality mental health care,” the union said in a statement.
“Kaiser staff will be on 65 picket lines at more than 35 locations throughout the scheduled weeklong strike,” the union said.
Picketing began this morning, the union said.
A prominent Kaiser Permanente ad appeared in the Los Angeles Times today, warning that news about the strike may sound “like Kaiser Permanente medical offices aren’t open, or that we aren’t ready to serve your health care needs.
“You should know these misperceptions are being generated by a very small California union, which represents a very small number of Kaiser Permanente employees, and is calling on them to walk picket lines this week.”
Kaiser employee Marc Greenfield told NBC7/39 in San Diego that it sometimes takes two months for mental health patients to get an appointment. Other workers said the Affordable Care Act and Medi-Cal have resulted in a large increase in new mental health patients.
Kaiser spokesman Rodger Dougherty told the station there isn’t necessarily a standardized wait time for someone to be seen.
“Mental health care is so individualized — an appointment may be several days or a couple weeks out,” Dougherty said. “That could be based on any number of things, up to and including patient preference and scheduling availability.”
He said the health care provider has beefed up its psychological care staff by about 25 percent over the past couple of years.
And in a statement released late this morning, John Nelson, vice president of Government Relations for Kaiser Permanente said in part:
“Kaiser Permanente has more than 120,000 union members among our 175,000 employees and we continue to work cooperatively to preserve and strengthen the excellent relationships we have with nearly all of the unions that represent our employees. …
“NUHW is a small California union representing fewer than 5,000 of Kaiser Permanente’s 175,000 employees. Since its creation in 2009, it has never negotiated a contract with Kaiser Permanente. In fact, NUHW stands alone as the only union that has been unwilling or unable to reach a fair agreement concerning a contract covering our employees during that time.
“Kaiser Permanente is committed to finding a solution that benefits our employees, and NUHW must have the same commitment. We are committed to continuing to bargain whenever and wherever possible to avoid a strike, and we are urging our employees to resist the call to leave members and their patients for the weeklong strike called by NUHW. …”
