In summary
California Democratic leaders are pressuring Kaiser to strike a deal with the union representing therapists in Southern California, but patients say they are just being patient.
Ezekiel Koontz recalls being a patient at Kaiser Permanente “for as long as I can remember.” First as a child and now as a working adult receiving gender-affirming treatment.
But the 26-year-old teacher had struggled to find a therapist she felt comfortable talking to, as she had battled severe depression and had suicidal thoughts for the past few years.
“I bounced around from therapist to therapist,” Koontz said. “Last time I counted, I think we had about 10 therapists.”
Then, after about two years of sessions, her favorite therapist went on strike, and Koontz found herself without a consistent person to talk to about her depression and suicidal thoughts.
“They continue to offer scab therapists,” Koontz said. “We had the same problem before, but now it’s worse. It feels vulgar in a way, because it’s like they’re trying to sympathize. us While shaming or trying to make an example. they And in the process don’t provide anyone with a solution. ”
Their plight reflects the strain on patients and health care workers as a result of a prolonged mental health strike, the second at Kaiser Permanente in the past three years. Approximately 2,400 Kaiser therapists, clinicians, and other members of the national health care workers union went on strike in Southern California on October 21, demanding more time and resources from the workday be allocated to critical patient care tasks. . Pension benefits were restored. and rising wages for the cost of living. Several unproductive negotiation sessions ended in a stalemate by October 28, and no further negotiations were scheduled.
In a recent statement, Kaiser Permanente said the strike was “unnecessary.” The union said the union’s proposal to require therapists to have seven hours of non-therapy session time per week would “reduce the amount of time therapists see patients by nearly 50% of their weekly time and reduce the number of urgently needed patient appointments by 15,000 per month.” “We will reduce the number of cases,” he said.
Leading Democratic lawmakers this week began pressuring the company to call off the strike on the union’s terms. California Senate President Mike McGuire and House Speaker Robert Rivas joined forces on December 12 to petition Kaiser Permanente CEO Greg Adams to do more to resolve the strike. .
“My undersigned colleagues and I agree to resume negotiations in good faith with NUHW as soon as possible and agree to the union’s reasonable contract proposal to ensure timely and appropriate behavioral health services to our patients. We urge you to do so,” McGuire and Rivas wrote. In an identical letter signed by 20 fellow senators and 40 members of Congress.
In 2022, Kaiser mental health workers in Northern California went on strike over a similar contract dispute. Ten weeks later, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg stepped in to broker a deal. Kaiser finally agreed. It would be based on a package of wage increases and staffing similar to what Southern California workers are currently fighting to get for themselves.
Kaiser also paid a $200 million settlement to the state of California in late 2023 for failing to provide mental health patients with adequate and timely access to treatment. The deal included a $50 million fine and a promise to invest $150 million over five years to improve behavioral health response protocols.
“I think the mental health system is even more broken down, especially in the case of Kaiser Southern California,” said Linda Cortez, a psychiatric social worker and strike leader for union picketing operations across the South. spoke. “There are only 2,400 of us in the entire Southern California region. Kaiser has deemed us essential workers during the coronavirus pandemic. They even gave us a little card saying we are essential workers. But now all of a sudden they don’t see us that way.”
The mother of two has worked at Kaiser for about 10 years and is worried about her family’s future as the strike drags on. “It was tough and there were a lot of emotions. How were we going to make ends meet every week? It was the first time I went to a food bank as an adult. We all went to buy turkeys for Thanksgiving to help make ends meet. I went.”
Kaiser said the final proposal for the next four-year union contract would provide a 5% wage increase in each of the next two years and a 4% increase in each of the following two years. But the strikers are also seeking additional adjustments to compensate for the lack of cost-of-living increases in 2018 and 2019, and only 2% increases in 2022 and 2023.
Kaiser bills itself as a “leader in pay and benefits,” and notes that it also offers fully subsidized retiree health plans.
But the disparity between Kaiser employees who receive defined pension plans and those who don’t is a troubling issue for mental health workers in Southern California.
“I feel like I’m not really valued as a Kaiser employee,” said Jade Rosado, a Kaiser employee who is not receiving a pension. “Especially when I look around, everyone from food service workers to janitors are receiving pensions. Am I any less of a mental health worker?”
David Zelen, who has worked as a social worker within Kaiser for the past 37 years and will retire with a full pension in 2025, will join Cortez and Rosado on the picket lines. “Everyone should have a pension,” he said. “That’s one of the benefits of working here at Kaiser and working hard. I’ll be working 40 hours a week and seeing about 35 patients.”
kaiser strike put Pressure on healthcare providers and patients
Cortez, Rosado and Zelen all worry about the patients who were previously housed there. “I’m scared for them,” Cortez said. “We know suicide rates go up during the holidays. Divorce rates go up. Unfortunately, violent acts go up. So why doesn’t Kaiser care?
Like most patients affected by the Kaiser strike, Koontz has outsourced access to therapists, including online services like Lula. Koontz receives a text or email from Kaiser about every two weeks letting him know these resources are still available.
But so far, Koontz is relying on chance to stay mentally stable and positive. “I guarantee you, if something goes wrong here, I have no safety net. I’m doing well, but it’s sheer luck.”
Another patient, Erin Hartman, also complained about Kaiser’s response to the strike. The 42-year-old mother, who lives in San Diego, began receiving one-on-one sessions in July to help her cope with the death of her father and the added stressors of raising a kindergartener while looking for a job. She credits her therapist with helping her work through her grief and manage her anxiety.
“Even in a short period of time, we see a big difference from July to October,” Hartman said. “And when she told me about the strike, my anxiety immediately came back because I didn’t know when I would see her again.”
Kaiser offered to provide Hartman with a replacement therapist, but she declined. “I wouldn’t do that,” she said, deciding instead to wait for her therapist to return after the strike. “We have a trusting relationship, which is very important. Therapy is like dating. I was really lucky.”
She describes herself as one of those patients whose level of treatment makes it bearable to wait weeks between sessions or even until the strike is over. “I understand why they are going on strike and I completely empathize with them,” she said. “The scary thing is that there are people out there with mental health issues who just can’t wait. What do you do when you really need someone and they’re not available?”
Two weeks ago, Hartman thought the strike was over when she learned her therapists could return to work and resume sessions. “I got a call from Kaiser and he was really excited to see me again,” Hartman said. “She said she considered how long she could go on strike, but for financial reasons it was no longer possible. So now she is working with the scabs.”
