‘Don’t Be Unfair To Us’: Workers Continue Weeks-Long Rallies At Kaiser Permanente Facilities
The union’s contract with the health care provider expires in September, and union representatives say Kaiser is considering 20 percent wage cuts for new hires in the Central Valley, and ten percent cuts in the Sacramento area.
KQED:
Labor Union Pressures Kaiser Permanente With Protests Across The State
Union workers employed by Kaiser Permanente are staging a series of protests across California. They say the health care provider is thriving financially, but still plans to outsource some jobs, and cut wages for some new hires. Ealy joined more than a hundred other employees who chanted and marched. Some dressed in hospital scrubs, others in street clothes, and many in the deep purple color associated with their union, Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW). They chanted “Who’s got the power? We got the power! What kind of power? Union power!” The rally was one of 32 demonstrations that SEIU-UHW is organizing around California between Feb. 14 – Mar. 9. (Kivans, 3/1)
In other health system and hospital news —
The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Scripps Promotes Six Doctors To Help Lead Restructuring Effort
Scripps Health has named a half-dozen doctors who will help lead an ongoing reorganization effort at all of its facilities countywide. Scripps has already reduced its number of hospital chief executives from five to two with a third overseeing all ancillary services. Plans also call for each hospital to have a pair of chief operating executives, one administrator and one physician, said Chris Van Gorder, Scripps’ chief executive. The equal-responsibilty arrangement, he said in a previous interview, is designed to make sure that medical quality and operating efficiency have equal standing as facilities work to cope with decreasing reimbursement levels from health insurance companies and federal programs such as Medicare. (Sisson, 3/1)