NorCal Kaiser Permanente Workers Poised To Announce Indefinite Strike

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — More than 2,000 Kaiser Permanente therapists and mental health workers across Northern California could go on an indefinite strike beginning Aug. 15, the National Union of Healthcare Workers announced Tuesday.

Mental health professionals have cited wait times spanning weeks or months for patients to book an appointment. Therapists and psychologists are demanding more resources as they struggle with heavy workloads and burnout, according to the union.

Swaths of psychologists, therapists, chemical dependency counselors and social workers are gearing up to strike next week if a bargain is not reached before then.

"Patients are getting ripped off while Kaiser’s coffers are bulging," said Sal Rosselli, president of the National Union of Healthcare Workers. "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."

A large increase in people reporting mental health problems after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered disruptions within the healthcare industry — especially in the nation's most populous state.

“Our members plan to use the tools of a union to achieve for their patients the care they deserve and parity required by law,” Rosselli said.

This is not the first time mental health workers of Kaiser Permanente have announced plans to strike. In November of last year, 2,000 mental health workers were able to avoid a one day strike after unions reached an agreement with the health care giant.

This year, therapists have many of the same complaints.

Deb Catsavas, senior Vice President at Kaiser Permanente, told CalMatters that the threat of a strike is "sadly, a bargaining tactic this union has used every time it has bargained a new contract."

He said the two sides were close to reaching an agreement and that the company is "committed to bargaining in good faith to reach a fair and equitable agreement that is good for our therapists and our patients."

One more bargaining session is planned for Friday between the union and Kaiser, the union told CalMatters.

Lawmakers have had their eyes on the conglomerate in recent years amid a deficient amount of mental health resources for patients, the union said. Kaiser has reportedly been fined by state regulators, sued by local prosecutors and is facing a state investigation after a rise in patient complaints last year.

In May, the California Department of Managed Health Care announced that it would launch an investigation into whether the company was providing adequate mental health care services to its 9.4 million Californians.

Kaiser has been criticized for its mental health services in recent years, especially after the onset of the pandemic, which triggered an influx of those seeking appointments.

The prevalence of anxiety or depression increased 25 percent during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study conducted by the World Health Organization.

Last year, a survey conducted by the NUHW found that 87 percent of mental health workers said that weekly individual psychotherapy appointments are unavailable for patients who need them.

Then, the healthcare company argued that it was trying to meet the shortage of mental health clinicians and is aggressively hiring mental health specialists, hired more than 600 therapists in California between 2016 and 2020, and continued actively to recruit more. In addition, Kaiser said it has invested some $30 million to train new mental health clinicians statewide.

This year, conditions have worsened for patients of Kaiser Permanente, workers have said.

“Right now we’re at a crisis point,” Sarah Soroken, a Kaiser therapist, told CalMatters. “Things are worse than ever.”

She said the pandemic intensified an already unstable situation, where more patients sought care as therapists continued to leave the company.

“We’re serving a strike notice because our patients aren’t receiving needed services.” said Shay Loftus, a psychologist in Kaiser’s Napa/Solano region. “We’re not willing to be part of a system that disrespects the work we do and prevents us from providing ethical care. Kaiser has no excuse to continue treating mental health care as a separate and unequal service, and we’re going to keep striking until that changes.”