Kaiser Secures Tentative Labor Agreement With Coalition of 32 Unions

On Friday, Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative, two-year labor agreement with a national coalition of 32 unions that represent about 96,000 Kaiser workers, the Sacramento Bee reports.

Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West represents about half of the workers covered by the proposed contract, which primarily covers Kaiser employees who work in technical and nonprofessional positions (Caina Calvan, Sacramento Bee, 5/29).

Details of Agreement

The collective bargaining agreement would:

• Provide a 3% across-the-board wage increase for all coalition members during each year of the two-year contract;
• Extend an additional 0.5% raise to Southern California registered nurses and clinical laboratory scientists;
• Maintain all current benefits;
• Increase the sick leave cash-out incentive to 75%; and
• Boost funding for the Workforce Planning and Development Trust, which provides training for current and displaced workers at a rate of 0.27% of annual payroll (Stockton Record, 5/30).

Ratification

On June 12, the Union Delegates Conference is scheduled to review the tentative labor agreement before it goes before the Kaiser Permanente Program Group and Kaiser's board of directors.

Later this summer, members of the individuals unions will hold votes to ratify the agreement.