Frontline health care workers reached a tentative agreement with health system Kaiser Permanente, a move that could bring to an end what unions called “the largest healthcare worker strike in U.S. history.”
The announcement, made early Friday morning by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West on social media, said that the frontline workers from the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions were “excited” to announce the tentative agreement. The statement also expressed gratitude to acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su for her role in the negotiations.
Details of the agreement were not yet available.
Over 75,000 workers picketed for three days earlier this month, advocating for better pay and better working conditions after three years on the frontlines of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The thousands of housekeepers, respiratory therapists and other non-doctor staff walked off the job to protest what they said are unsafe staffing levels, labor law violations and inadequate wages.
On Monday, the Coalition served Kaiser Permanente with an official notice that it may conduct a follow-up strike for one week starting November 1, the day after a contract covering Kaiser frontline workers in Seattle expires, allowing an additional 3,000 staff to join the picket lines.
The Coalition representing 11 healthcare worker unions has been negotiating with Kaiser since April to improve understaffed hospitals and clinics that they say are leading to long wait times, mistaken diagnoses and patient neglect. The group’s four-year contract expired September 30. Negotiations resumed on Thursday.
Kaiser, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit medical organizations, serves 13 million people at 39 hospitals in seven states.
This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.
Spectrum News’ Susan Carpenter contributed to this report.