Kaiser Permanente, Workers Announce Tentative Labor Contract
As expected, Kaiser Permanente on Thursday announced that its unionized workers, led by Service Employees International Union, tentatively agreed to a five-year contract covering 82,000 hospital employees at more than 400 facilities in eight states and Washington, D.C., the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Due to take effect Saturday if formally approved by Friday, the contract provides at least a 13% pay increase over the first three years and will preserve workers' pension benefits, as well as a 401(k) defined-contribution plan to be added in 2007. A raise of at least 3% in the fourth and fifth years of the contract also will be implemented, and Kaiser will establish a $100 million trust that workers can use for education and training (Raine, San Francisco Chronicle, 9/30).
The deal, which marks the second five-year contract Kaiser and the unions have negotiated, covers nurses, lab technicians, pharmacists, janitors, cafeteria workers and other workers but does not apply to doctors, the AP/San Luis Obispo Tribune reports.
As of Wednesday, 92% of the more than 40,000 Kaiser workers who voted, did so in favor of the contract.
The deal applies to employees in California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia and Washington (AP/San Luis Obispo Tribune, 9/29).