Support Care Providers in Their Time of Need

Update providers have hit week 8 and about to enter week 9 with no word on Kaiser ! All mental health providers have been exhausting all efforts to get Kaiser to the bargaining table and we have yet to hear anything .

Please support your local Southern California Kaiser Permanente providers, including mental health therapists , psych RN’s, psychologists, medical social workers, and home care social workers by donating to our strike hardship fund. We belong to the National Union of Healthcare Workers, and we are striking because patients continue to endure dangerously long waits, inappropriate care for mental health, and substance use treatment services. Providers are being hurt through this process, having to violate the ethical values they swore by due to Kaiser wanting to operate mental health services as an assembly line.

Patient care is treated like a fast food restaurant, not the quality of care we providers strive for. We have negotiated at the bargaining table, reached out to all levels of Kaiser leadership/management, filed grievances with the Department of Managed Health Care and other regulatory agencies, and worked to help pass mental health and substance use treatment parity legislation in California, yet our patients are still being denied medically necessary care.

"We are negotiating a new contract to win the same level of salaries, benefits, and patient care/administrative time that Kaiser provides its other professionals throughout the state, including our counterparts in Northern California."

Kaiser has the resources to fix its mental health system. Since 2018, the HMO has reported $31 billion in profits. Yet, in a recent survey of Kaiser mental health therapists in Southern California conducted by their union, the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW):

Facts :

-65 percent reported that their departments lacked enough staff to provide timely and appropriate care to patients.

-81 percent responded that they don’t have enough time in the day for critical patient care duties that can’t be done during therapy sessions.

-68 percent reported that weekly individual therapy appointments at their clinic were not available to those who needed it.

-58 percent reported that they can’t see their patients every two weeks as required by state law.

Striking is a last resort, but the status quo is unacceptable for our patients; we can't allow them to keep suffering. Providers are having to find time to use the restroom, follow up, and do other duties they must do to maintain quality of care. WE ARE TIRED!

Your donations will help alleviate the financial burden for mental health health professionals who are most impacted by foregoing pay, lowering barriers to strike participation, and making our strike as united and successful as possible! Please remember that your donation is not tax-deductible.

Why is a strike fund needed?

When therapists go on strike as a last resort for improved patient care, we go without pay. Kaiser uses financial strain to avoid reaching an agreement.

Don’t you make plenty of money though?

Therapists’ wages and financial situations are wide-ranging, like anyone else. Some can sustain a strike, and others cannot. Kaiser counts on those who cannot, often those who are already marginalized.

Don’t you pay union dues? Doesn’t that cover your wages?

Yes, we do pay union dues, but in a union like ours, they only cover the costs of organizing and logistics of a strike.

Learn more about our strike, the plight of our patients, and your patient rights at:

https://nuhw.org/kaiser-dont-deny/kaiser-strike/

Additional Reads:

https://laist.com/news/health/kaiser-mental-health-workers-ready-to-strike

https://home.nuhw.org/2024/10/03/nearly-2400-kaiser-permanente-mental-health-professionals-authorize-open-ended-strike/

100% OF THESE FUNDS WILL HELP ALL CLINICIANS THROUGH OUT SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA . WE APPRECIATE YOU READING OUR STORY

DISCLAIMER : Thank you for your generous donation. Please note that in the event that an agreement is reached with Kaiser and our group does not go on strike, all funds collected will be put towards future strike funds.”