Union overwhelmingly ratifies new Kaiser Permanente contract, ending 10-week strike

Kaiser Permanente therapists this week overwhelmingly ratified a new four-year contract following a 10-week long walkout by 2,000 therapists across Northern California who were clamoring for better staffing and a reduction to patient wait times.

The National Union of Healthcare Workers on Tuesday announced they reached a tentative deal with the health system for the new contract, and on Thursday union members voted 1,561 to 36 in favor of ratifying the new four-year contract, which is retroactive to Sept. 2021 and expires in Sept. 2025.

The new pact between the healthcare giant and striking therapists culminates months of clashes at the bargaining table over staffing issues that were exacerbated by a rise in demand for mental healthcare at the start of the pandemic.

Key contract provisions include nearly two additional hours a week for therapists to perform administrative duties outside of direct patient treatment, such as answering emails and voicemails and tailoring treatment plans, the union said in a press release.

The contract includes an increase in extra pay for bilingual therapists from $1 per hour to $1.50 per hour, which the union said will help Kaiser recruit and retain therapists who can meet the needs of non-English speakers.

Kaiser also committed to hiring more therapists and expanding its new treatment track programs — which allow certain patients better access to appointments over a shorter period of treatment — and to work with therapists on a plan to expand crisis services to nearly all of its clinics.

The union and Kaiser also agreed to increase the amount of time therapists have to conduct initial assessments of children seeking mental health care from 60 to 90 minutes.

“It took much longer than it should have to reach this agreement, but, in the end, we succeeded in securing important improvements in patient care that Kaiser negotiators told us across the bargaining table that they’d never agree to,” said Jennifer Browning, a licensed clinical social worker for Kaiser in Roseville who served on the union bargaining committee. “At a time when there are so few appointment cancellations because we’re seeing patients remotely, giving us enough time to perform all of our patient care duties is going to help keep a lot of us at Kaiser, and it’s going to help Kaiser hire more therapists.”

The contract also includes new powers for the labor-management Model of Care committees that make recommendations to the hospital on things like patient intake, child and family therapy and crisis management. Those committees mainly held an advisory role in the past, but now Kaiser is required to implement and fully fund the committees’ recommendations.

If the committee’s stalemate, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg has agreed to help mediate as he has done since the start of contract negotiations.

The union says Kaiser is also not in compliance of a new state law requiring all health insurers to provide therapy sessions within 10 business days unless a therapist says a longer wait time won’t be a problem. That puts a stop to long wait times, chief among the many reasons therapists chose to strike in September.

“This contract puts us on much stronger footing to work with Kaiser to help it become a great place to give and receive mental health care,” said Ilana Marcucci-Morris, a licensed clinical social worker for Kaiser in Oakland. “But any successful collaboration will require Kaiser’s total commitment to devote the resources necessary to meet California’s timely access to care requirements. We expect Kaiser to follow the law, and we expect the state to enforce it.”

The contract includes better pay for therapists, including a 4% raise the first year, a 3% raise and 1% lump sum bonus the second year, a 3% raise the third year and a final 3% raise with a 1% lump sum bonus.

But for union members, the struggle for better working conditions is far from over as many focus on fights in Hawaii who are now in their eighth week on strike.