An old saga is new again in the healthcare industry, where we will catch up on union woes in California and Michigan with a Minnesota chaser:
California: Kaiser Permanente’s workplace woes seem to never end after a coalition of unions dug their claws into the healthcare consortium. Back in Fall 2022, Kaiser endured two major mental health worker strikes, which lasted for months and ended with no meaningful results and a deal that did not settle grievances for thousands of therapists in California and Hawaii. In late 2023, Kaiser saw another flurry of union rallies, which led to mental health workers going on a 10-week strike in Northern California.
Fast-forward to this month, and 2,000 Kaiser mental health workers—psychologists, psychiatric nurses, therapists, and clinical social workers—authorized an “open-ended” strike on Oct. 21 in Southern California.
In response, Kaiser maintains that its most recent offer provides for 18% raises on top of above-market salaries, better retirement benefits, and more planning time in therapist schedules. The company also accuses the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) of being determined to strike regardless of the offer.
Here are a few more Golden State updates:
- 7,000+ CVS workers across California authorized a strike while claiming that they could not afford health insurance premiums on their wages. Additionally, the SEIU-represented workers want the pharmacy chain to beef up staffing and safety protocols, which are particularly fraught issues at the intersection of retail and healthcare.
- 900 Dialysis workers at 37 California clinics authorized a strike from Oct. 14-19. The group is protesting the partnership of DaVita Kidney Care and Fresenius Medical Care, which the union alleges are maximizing profit at the expense of patient safety.
Michigan: An impending strike and enacted legislation loom large here.
- 2,700 SEIU-represented University of Michigan healthcare workers authorized an Oct. 15 strike with a “loud” and “clear” message from the union. The walkout is only planned to last one day but involves an array of specialties, from respiratory therapists to life-support specialists. These workers unionized in July 2023 and March 2024 and seek a first contract. Update 10/15: This strike was averted last night when the parties reached a late-night tentative agreement.
- Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed two bills that ease the path for 35,000+ home health workers to unionize under the SEIU-affiliated Michigan Home Care Workers United. Those bills will even allow workers who are paid through Medicaid to take care of their own family members as “individual homecare workers” to collectively bargain as private employees. Talk about a union bonanza, and SEIU hopes to unionize these workers through card check when the bills go into effect next March.
We will end this roundup with trouble on the horizon in Minnesota, where SEIU is circling Monarch Nursing Homes. The company’s workers admitted to CBS News that they feel “overworked and understaffed.” Earlier this year, SEIU also put workers at seven nursing homes on strike throughout the state.