Kaiser Permanente has reached a tentative contract with health-care workers, according to a statement Friday from the Service Employees International Union.
The tentative deal follows a walkout last week by more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers, who staged what labor organizers billed as the largest strike of health-care workers in U.S. history.
Kaiser and its unions had been locked in negotiations over pay, outsourcing protections and staffing issues for six months by the time the union walked out, which had immediate impacts on health system. Workers told The Washington Post that the staffing issues were dire, resulting a worsening patient care and an erosion of mental health among front-line providers.
“The big thing is we’re burnt out,” said Keven Dardon, a longtime Kaiser employee who walked out last week. “People are doing double and triple the work. … And you look at jobs in fast food, and everything is $20 an hour and up. We clean blood and disinfect bodies.”
Kaiser, meanwhile, has said it has made efforts to increase staffing at hospitals despite the droves of workers who left amid the “Great Resignation” of 2021 and 2022, hiring 9,800 of the 10,000 workers the unions had requested.
The SEIU said Friday that the acting U.S. labor secretary had been “instrumental” in helping both parties arrive at a deal. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents 85,000 workers in eight states and helped to organize the strike, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Kaiser could not immediately comment.
Tentative labor agreements typically have to be ratified by workers before they can be finalized.
This story is developing and will be updated.
