Kaiser Mental Health Workers To Strike Monday Throughout NorCal

BAY AREA — More than 2,000 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers across the Bay Area plan to strike Monday to protest alleged low staffing and long wait times. The National Union of Healthcare Workers announced the open-ended strike after the health care company rejected a proposal Saturday, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

The strike will affect hospitals throughout the Bay Area, Fresno and Sacramento. Clinicians plan to picket in San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento and Fresno and other cities until a deal is reached, the union representing mental health clinicians said in a statement.

The union had been threatening to strike for months over claims of high workloads and patient wait times that can last for months, union officials said in a statement. Though demand for mental health treatment has surged since the pandemic, the union claimed Kaiser staffs approximately one full-time equivalent mental health clinician for 2,600 members, which could violate state laws.

The union also claimed that while Kaiser is cutting back mental healthcare, it is reporting $8.1 billion in net profits last year.

“Patients are getting ripped off while Kaiser’s coffers are bulging,” union President Sal Roselli said in the statement “We don’t take striking lightly but it’s time to take a stand and make Kaiser spend some of its billions on mental health care.”

The union also claimed earlier this week that Kaiser is canceling mental health care for patients ahead of the strike, which the company has disputed.

Kaiser said in a statement from its senior Vice President of Human Resources this weekend that patients will receive care from "those mental health clinicians who choose patient needs over strike." Kaiser also said that it has expanded its network of providers and will continue to prioritize "urgent and emergency care."

Kaiser also claimed that it has hired hundreds of new mental health clinicians since January 2021, added virtual care options, embedded mental health access through virtual care, and launched a $500,000 recruiting initiative.

Kaiser also claimed that the sticking point in negotiations is allotments for administrative work and seeing patients. The company said that the union is demanding more time for administrative work, which would cut back from time to see patients.