About 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, who say staff shortages are hurting patient care, walked off the job Wednesday in several states, kicking off a major health care strike amid an unusual year for US labor organizing and walkouts.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest insurance companies and health care system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide.
The nonprofit company, based in Oakland, California, provides health coverage for nearly 13 million people, sending clients to clinics and hospitals it operates or contracts with to provide care.
The Kaiser Permanente Union Coalition, which represents about 85,000 health system workers nationwide, approved a three-day strike in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington, and a one-day strike in Virginia and Washington, DC
In the pre-dawn hours outside Los Angeles’ Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, workers cheered as the strike deadline loomed.
About 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers began a massive health care strike amid an unusual year for US labor organizing and walkouts. Health care workers say staff shortages are hurting patient care. AP
Practitioners include licensed vocational nurses, home health aides, and ultrasound sonographers, as well as technicians in radiology, X-ray, surgery, pharmacy, and emergency departments.
Doctors did not participate, and Kaiser said its hospitals, including emergency rooms, would remain open during the picket.
The company said it was bringing in thousands of temporary workers to fill vacancies during the strike.
The nonprofit company, based in Oakland, California, provides health coverage for nearly 13 million people. The Kaiser Permanente Unions represent about 85,000 health system workers nationwide. Unions approve three-day strike in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and one day in Virginia and Washington, DC Getty Images
However, the strike could cause delays in getting appointments and rescheduled non-urgent procedures.
It comes amid extraordinary worker organizing — from strike authorization to layoffs — in a variety of industries this year, including, transportation, entertainment and hospitality.
Wednesday’s strike is the latest for the health care industry this year as it continues to grapple with fatigue from heavy workloads — a problem exacerbated by the pandemic.
Practitioners include licensed vocational nurses, home health aides, and ultrasound sonographers, as well as technicians in radiology, X-ray, surgery, pharmacy, and emergency departments. Getty Images
The union representing Kaiser workers in August asked for a minimum wage of $25 an hour, plus raises of 7% annually in the first two years and 6.25% annually in the following two years.
They say staff shortages boost the hospital system’s profits but hurt patients, and that executives have negotiated in bad faith during negotiations.
“They’re not listening to the front-line health care workers,” says Mikki Fletchall, a licensed vocational nurse based at Kaiser’s medical office in Camarillo, California. “We are on strike because of our patients. We don’t want to have to do it, but we will.”
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Kaiser has proposed a minimum hourly wage of between $21 and $23 next year depending on location.
Since 2022, the hospital system has hired 51,000 workers and has plans to add 10,000 more by the end of this month.
Kaiser Permanente reported net income of $2.1 billion for the second quarter of the year with more than $25 billion in operating income.
However, the company said it still faces cost problems and challenges from inflation and labor shortages.
Kaiser executive Michelle Gaskill-Hames defended the company and said its practices, compensation and retention were better than its competitors, even though the entire sector faced similar challenges.
“Our focus, for the money we bring in, is to make sure they invest in value-based care,” said Gaskill-Hames, president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospitals of Southern California and Hawaii.
He added that Kaiser is facing only 7% turnover compared to the industry standard of 21%, despite the impact of the pandemic.
The union representing Kaiser workers is asking for a minimum wage of $25 an hour, plus raises of 7% annually in the first two years. Getty Images “They’re not listening to the frontline health care workers,” said Mikki Fletchall, a licensed vocational nurse based in Camarillo, California. “We are on strike because of our patients. We don’t want to have to do it, but we will.”Getty Images
“I think coming out of the epidemic, health care workers have been completely burned out,” he said. “The trauma of caring for so many COVID patients, and patients who have died, is difficult.”
The workers’ last contract was negotiated in 2019, before the pandemic.
Hospitals in general have struggled in recent years with high labor costs, understaffing, and increasing levels of uncompensated care, according to Rick Gundling, senior vice president of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, a nonprofit organization that works with healthcare finance executives. .
Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest insurance companies and health care system operators, with 39 hospitals nationwide. APKaiser employees say staff shortages boost the hospital system’s profits but hurt patients, and that executives have negotiated in bad faith during negotiations. Reuters
Most of their income is fixed, coming from government-funded programs like Medicare and Medicaid, Gundling said.
He said that means revenue growth “is only possible by increasing volume, which is difficult even in the best of circumstances.”
Workers who are asking for higher wages, better working conditions and job security, especially since the end of the epidemic, are increasingly willing to quit their jobs as employers face a greater need for workers.
The California legislature has sent Democrat Gavin Newsom a bill that would raise the minimum wage for the state’s 455,000 health care workers to $25 an hour over the next decade.
The governor has until October 14 to decide whether to sign or veto it.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
