ECONOMIC IDEAL –
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – More than 75,000 healthcare workers at the US’s largest non-profit private healthcare provider, Kaiser Permanente, are expected to hold the largest strike on October 4 in the largest healthcare strike in the US history over the pay hike.
The workers’ union contract ended at the weekend and staff are pushing for significant improvements to staffing levels and wage hike that account for recent high inflation, The Guardian reported.
“It just seems like there is no concern for short-staffing and patient care. It’s mind blowing to see Kaiser Permanente that was once an industry leader that liked to call themselves the gold standard of care, be so out of touch with employees, with their patients, and their more focused on putting profits over patient care,” an intensive care unit secretary at Kaiser Permanente in Modesto, California, Henry Perez said.
The strike will target hundreds of facilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and Washington DC. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions noted that if they don’t see movement at the bargaining table in response to the strike, another longer strike that includes additional workers in Washington will be called.
“They always praised us as healthcare heroes during the pandemic and now they’re treating us like zeros by not bargaining in good faith,” said Perez.
He explained that working in an emergency care unit, there are days where he has to do the work of two, three or four other unit assistants, and short staffing has led to patients having long waits for assistance which poses a significant safety issue for them and claimed the problem has only worsened due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kaiser Permanente serves 12.7 million members in California, Washington, Oregon, Georgia, Hawaii, Washington DC, Maryland and Virginia. The non-profit has reported more than $3bn in profits in the first half of 2023 and has paid at least 49 corporate executives salaries exceeding $1m annually.