Antioch Care Team one-year pilot will operate 24 hours, 7 days a week at an estimated cost of $1.8 to $2.2 million

By Allen Payton

During the Antioch City Council voted unanimously to formally accept the Final Report from Urban Strategies Council for the Antioch Care Team Program Pilot and direct City staff to proceed with the process to hire an organization to operate it. The one-year pilot program at an estimated cost of $1.8 to $2.2 million, is projected to begin in June 2022 with full implementation beginning in October 2022.

According to the City staff report, “following a panel interview process that included the Interim Police Chief, City Attorney, Youth Services Network Manager and Medical Director from the Contra Costa Fire Protection District, the City selected and engaged Urban Strategies Council in late July of 2021. Urban Strategies Council is a research and advocacy organization dedicated to social, economic, and racial equity. They aim to hold institutions and systems accountable to community needs. Prior experience in developing local adaptations of community crisis response models and the organization’s mission were determined to align with the City’s intent to design a program that recognizes and incorporates the complexity of Antioch’s diverse needs.”

During the August 10th Antioch City Council meeting the not-for-profit social justice organization was introduced and hired to design a mobile, mental health crisis intervention model for the City of Antioch, to address non-emergency calls using well-trained community respondents.  (See related article)

According to the 219-page report by Urban Strategies Council, “The desired impacts of ACT are to: reduce non warrant arrests that result during a 911 response; reduce the number of individuals transported to the emergency department for non-life threatening medical-related issues that could instead be addressed in a pre-hospital care setting; and reduce the number of behavioral health and lower acuity medical calls traditionally responded to by Police and Fire.”

David Harris, President and CEO of Urban Strategies Council said it will be 24-hour, citywide healthcare, non-police response model for low-level 9-11 calls which will reduce arrests and save money for the police department.

He read from his organization’s report saying, “Cities across the country, including the City of Antioch (CA), are working to advance innovation and best practices in local law enforcement and public safety services. Specifically, in non-violent, non-health (life-threatening) response situations where a gun and badge isn’t needed or helpful, both the individuals involved, and the police are better served by alternative non-police responses.”

According to the report, “From 2018 to 2020, the Antioch Police Department (APD) received approximately 90,000 911 calls for service per year. In 2020, 4,142 of the total calls were either for homelessness-related or mental health/drug-related issues. Of these calls, approximately 1,373 were categorized as potentially low-level calls.”

Types of Calls ACT Will Respond To

Also, according to the report, “For the pilot program, APD Dispatch will refer calls from priority levels 4 & 5 to the ACT unit, with some priority level 3 calls (based on developed protocols and the dispatcher’s discretion). Initially, ACT will respond to dispatch-referred calls initiated through the 911 system. A sample of the call situations that ACT may respond to includes: Person drunk in public Panhandling/Aggressive Panhandling Disorderly juveniles – group Auto Disturbance – noise, revving engine Loud music – Noise complaint Incorrigible juvenile Confused/senile person Family dispute Incomplete 911 call Public urination/indecent exposure (without criminal intent) Wellness check Subject down (typically a resident asleep in public) Trespasser/unwanted person Found syringe Person screaming Person needing referral to services w/o access to phone People sleeping in vehicles and/or camping in public spaces.”

The primary design components of the program include: Program scope, Core personnel, Support personnel, Staff development, Pilot facilities, Community outreach / engagement, Prevention planning, APD integration, Evaluation planning, Program budget, Pilot startup phases / timetable, and APD call referrals.

The Antioch Care Team will consist of a program director, community response specialist, an EMT, case manager/network developer and a clinical coordinator. It will take about 14.5 full-time equivalent employees to staff the 24-hour operation.

“We recommend a one-year pilot after the vendor is selected,” Harris said. “It’s scheduled to coincide with the end of your Fiscal Year 2023.”

Five members of the public spoke in favor of the program, including Angelo Quinto’s aunt, sister and father.

In response to a question from District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker about costs, Interim Antioch Police Chief Tony Morefield said, “I’ll say that we’ve been supportive of this process from the start. The only costs I see would be police radios.”

“The one thing that was brought up was coordinating with the county. I want to make sure we are in partnership with the county going forward,” said District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock. She also asked about costs.

“Being that this would be a non-profit organization we did not include pension costs for employees,” Harris responded.

With no further discussion the council adopted the resolution on a 5-0 vote.

To see the complete report, visit Antioch-Care-Team.pdf (antiochca.gov)

On strike for nearly three months

By Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

Kaiser Permanente has been bargaining in good faith with Local 39 IUOE (International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39 Stationary Engineers), the union that represents about 600 Kaiser Permanente operating engineers, for several months. The union decided to call a strike and have kept employees out for nearly three months. Our proposals to Local 39 will keep our engineers among the best compensated in their profession, at an average of more than $180,000 in total wages and benefits. We are not proposing any take-aways. (See related article)

In bargaining with IOUE Local 39, we delivered a comprehensive proposal that offers across-the-board pay increases and cash payments that are similar to our other employees’ and continues to include all our industry-leading benefits. Further, engineers’ retirement benefit would continue to be substantial, with several improvements.

Right now, Local 39’s position is the same as before it went on strike. The union continues to insist it receive much more – in some cases nearly 2 times more – than other union agreements covering Kaiser Permanente employees. It simply is not in line with other employees, nor is it in line with our obligation to continue addressing the affordability of health care for our more than 4.5 million members.

We will continue to bargain in good faith, and we hope that Local 39 leaders will continue to do the same. That means more discussion, fresh ideas, and compromise. At this time, we do not have any further dates scheduled to meet.  We are optimistic that we can resolve the remaining issues with Local 39 at the bargaining table and reach an agreement that continues to reward our employees and supports health care affordability, just as we have with several unions recently.

“The time has come to shut down those establishments that don’t obey the code.” – District 4 Supervisor Karen Mitchoff

“There are no Omicron variant cases yet in our county.” – CC Health Services Director Anna Roth

Approve East County Groundwater Plan; approve $95.5 million for new West County Reentry Treatment & Housing Facility

By Daniel Borsuk

A defensive Contra Costa Health Services Director Anna Roth faced criticism from county Supervisors, especially emanating from District 4 Supervisor Karen Mitchoff on why 13 restaurants remain open in defiance of county COVID-19 health orders. As of Sept. 22, by order of the county’s Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano, restaurants, gyms, movie theaters and other entertainment venues must require patrons show proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test in order to enter. (See related article)

“There is no change in enforcement,” Roth said at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting. As of November, 99 percent of restaurants in the county are compliant. We have 13 outstanding cases.”

But Roth’s statement did not satisfy Mitchoff, the supervisor who initially unveiled the code enforcement issue with the county health services.

“The time has come to shut down those establishments that don’t obey the code,” Mitchoff said. “We have done the education. We’ve done the warning.”

None of the owners of the 13 restaurants spoke at Tuesday’s supervisors meeting. Lumpy’s Diner in Antioch, and MJ’s Downtown Café are among eating establishments that the county has tagged as out of compliance of COVID-19 health code.

One of the 13 restaurants on the county’s red tag list, the In-n-Out in Pleasant Hill has been closed for indoor dining health code violations.

District 5 Supervisor Federal Glover of Pittsburg came to the defense of Roth and her department’s code enforcement division commenting, “I think you’re doing an outstanding job out there. The volume of people out there who are out of compliance is small. I enjoy eating inside a restaurant. I understand the stress,”

In the meantime, Roth reported that while 75.6 percent of Contra Costa County residents are fully vaccinated, twenty-seven persons are hospitalized in county hospitals with COVID-19 symptoms One patient dies daily on average from COVID-19 symptoms, she noted.

“There are no Omicron variant cases yet in our county,” said Roth.

In an interview for a KRON4 news report, County Health Officer Dr. Chris Farnitano said, “We don’t just jump right in there with a fine at the get go. We give the businesses the opportunity. Because our goal is to get to compliance for people to follow the order. Our goal isn’t to issue a bunch of fines.” The report also shared that Farnitano said only four restaurants in the county have been fined.

East County Groundwater Sustainability Plan Approved

Supervisors also approved the East Contra Costa Subbasin Groundwater Sustainability Plan on a 5-0 vote. The $1.4 million groundwater study applies to the cities of Antioch and Brentwood, Byron-Bethany Irrigation District, Diablo Water District, Discovery Bay Community Services and East Contra Costa Irrigation District.

Even under drought like conditions, the plan found, “Groundwater conditions in the ECC Subbasin are favorable and reflect stability over the past 30 years or more. Using various analogies, the Subbasin can be described as generally full through various water-year types, including drought and is in good “health.” The favorable conditions are in part due to surface water availability that represents the largest sources of supply for municipal and agricultural uses in the Subbasin.”

Ryan Hernandez of the Department of Conservation and Planning said if the board of supervisors did not adopt the ECC-GSP, the county would be in violation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, which would result in the State Water Resources Board intervening in local groundwater management.

$95.5 Million West County Detention Facility Expansion Plan Approved

Supervisors unanimously approved a $95.5 million design-build contract with Montana-based contractor Sletten Construction Company to design and build five secure housing units, a medical treatment center, reentry program space and building, and visitation facilities at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond. It will be known as the West County Re-entry Treatment and Housing Facility. WRTH presentation CCCBOS120721

One of the objectives of the project is to reduce overcrowding by 128 inmate beds to 288 high-security inmate beds in five housing units. Ninety-six beds will still be mental health treatment beds.

Possible Relocation of Marsh Creek Shooting Range

In a related matter, supervisors approved as a consent item a report on the future use and potential relocation of the shooting range at the Marsh Creek Detention Facility possibly to the Concord Naval Weapon Station. At the low-security detention facility inmates learn wood making skills and other basic education skills.

Used also as a training facility for the Office of the Sheriff and law enforcement agencies from Contra Costa County and surrounding counties, the Marsh Creek Range Facility generates revenue for the county. The range will bring about $113,000 for fiscal year 2021-2022, wrote County Administrator Monica Nino in her report to the supervisors.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

 

Unanimous vote by trustees; all visitors, including vendors and subcontractors, required to complete health assessment prior to visiting a 4CD facility.

By Timothy Leung, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa Community College District

At their September 8, 2021, meeting, the Contra Costa Community College District (4CD) Governing Board passed a resolution on a unanimous vote establishing a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all employees, and students who attend at least one in-person class or visits a 4CD facility or campus. All visitors, including vendors and subcontractors, are strongly encouraged to be vaccinated and will be required to complete a health assessment prior to visiting a 4CD facility. Ward 2 Trustee and Board Vic President Dr. Walters made the motion, and it was seconded by Ward 5 Trustee Fernando Sandoval. The vote was unanimous, including the student trustee. (See Item 21.A.)

The vaccine requirement became effective on Monday, November 1, 2021, in order to provide time for those currently unvaccinated to become fully vaccinated. The 4CD Governing Board determined that requiring vaccines for students and employees is necessary to ensure the health and safety of the 4CD community.

Employees and students can apply for a vaccination exception or deferral in the following situations: (a) medical excuse from receiving COVID-19 vaccine due to medical conditions or precaution; b) disability; (c) during the period of any pregnancy; or (d) religious objection based on a person’s sincerely held religious beliefs, practice or observance. When an exception or deferral has been approved, regular weekly COVID-19 testing with evidence of negative test results will be required for any unvaccinated person accessing District campuses or facilities.

4CD is evaluating various technology solutions that will track the vaccination status and test results in a secure system designed to protect the privacy of students and employees in accordance with applicable laws.

“In making this decision, 4CD reached out to its students, faculty, classified professionals, and managers and received overwhelming support to take this action,” said Chancellor Bryan Reece. “COVID-19 and its many variants will be with us for a while, so we must take prudent steps like this one so we can continue providing face-to-face instruction and services for our students, while ensuring we have a safe place to learn and work for our students and staff.”

4CD continues to monitor and adhere to health guidelines from federal, state and local health authorities, and advocates vaccination is the most effective way to prevent transmission and limit COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths.

Visit 4CD’s website at https://www.4cd.edu/covid19/index.html for more information.

About the College District

The Contra Costa Community College District (4CD) is one of the largest multi-college community college districts in California. The 4CD serves a population of 1,019,640 people, and its boundaries encompass all but 48 of the 734-square-mile land area of Contra Costa County. 4CD is home to Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, as well as educational centers in Brentwood and San Ramon. The District headquarters is located in downtown Martinez. For more information visit www.4cd.edu.

By Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

Members of both the California Nurses Association and National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) are participating in sympathy strikes on Friday, Nov. 19, at all Kaiser facilities in Northern California in support of the Engineers, Local 39 who have been on strike for 63 days, as of today.

Kaiser Permanente statement about claims made by the California Nurses Association

November 19, 2021

Note: Kaiser Permanente is not in bargaining with the California Nurses Association, whose contract runs through August 2022.

The last 20 months of this pandemic have been an incredibly challenging and stressful time to work on the front lines of health care. We are extremely grateful for our frontline health care workforce, including our nurses, whose commitment to providing care and service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of inspiring.

And while staffing continues to be a challenge across health care, we have hired hundreds of nurses and other care team members in recent months and continue to support our teams and their need for respite by bringing in experienced temporary staff.  In fact, in spite of the acute shortage of nurses in the state, Kaiser Permanente Northern California will have hired an estimated 1,800 experienced nurses by the end of the year, in addition to adding 300 new nurses who will graduate from Kaiser Permanente’s nurse residency program.

We want to thank our nurses, who demonstrate resilience, expertise and compassion every day. We recognize and have worked hard to ease the stresses that this pandemic has caused our people. Since early in the pandemic response, Kaiser Permanente has provided nearly $600 million in employee assistance to ensure that our frontline employees had access to alternate housing, special childcare grants, and additional paid leave for COVID-19 illness and exposure. When it became clear at year-end that our workers’ performance bonuses could be reduced by the effects of the pandemic, we instead chose to guarantee all eligible union-represented employees at least a 100% payout of their performance bonus, amounting to thousands of dollars a person on average.

Kaiser Permanente statement about bargaining with NUHW and claims made by the union

November 19, 2021

Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), which represents nearly 2,000 of our mental health professionals in Northern California, began bargaining in late July. While the union is issuing press statements about staffing, the real issue at the table is how much therapists are paid. 

This strike is a bargaining tactic this union has used every time it is bargaining for a new contract with Kaiser Permanente, over the past 11 years of its existence. We are still bargaining and are committed to resolving the issues and reaching an agreement.  

There is a national shortage of mental health clinicians that was already a challenge before the pandemic, and over the past year-and-a-half the demand for care has increased everywhere. We have been taking action to address the shortage of caregivers and to ensure care is available to our members. Over the past five years we have added hundreds of new mental health clinicians to our workforce; we currently have more than 300 open positions. We’ve worked hard to expand the number of therapists in California and are investing $30 million to build a pipeline to educate and train new mental health professionals across the state, with an emphasis on expanding the number of bilingual and diverse students entering the mental health field.

We have significantly expanded our ability to provide virtual care to patients who want it, increasing convenience and access, even though NUHW initially objected to this effort. We also continue to scale up our collaborative care programs that have proven to effectively treat patients with anxiety and depression diagnoses. 

As a result of these efforts and more, Kaiser Permanente offers timely access to initial and return appointments that meets all state standards and is above the average of other California providers. While this is an accomplishment during this time of caregiver shortage and increased demand, we are not finished. We know that every appointment is important and matters to each patient, every person’s needs are unique and every Kaiser Permanente member who needs care deserves timely access to that care. 

We have the greatest respect and gratitude for our mental health professionals and we are dedicated to supporting them in their important work. In addition to working with us to improve access to high quality mental health care, we are asking NUHW to work constructively to help address future costs to ensure we continue to be affordable for our members. 

At the heart of the issues in bargaining is this: Health care is increasingly unaffordable, and escalating wages are half of our costs. Kaiser Permanente is indisputably one of the most labor-friendly organizations in the United States. We are committed to remaining an employer of choice for mental health professionals, and to continuing to offer our employees market-leading wages and benefits. But we cannot continue to allow costs to grow beyond what our members can afford.  

The wages our mental health care professionals receive are significantly higher than average in some markets. For example, in the San Francisco Bay Area, licensed marriage family therapists at Kaiser Permanente earn more than $126,000 on average, which is more than $21,000 higher than market average wages, and licensed clinical social workers make more than $128,000, which is more than $16,000 higher than the market average. The same trend is true in the other parts of Northern California. In Sacramento, licensed clinical social workers earn an average of more than $127,000 in wages, which is $24,000 more than the market average. In addition, we provide among the most generous benefits available. 

The challenge we are trying to address is that if we continue to increase costs so high above the marketplace, our members will not be able to afford to get the care they need. We have to work together to address this challenge in a way that honors and rewards our employees and recognizes the increasing difficulty our members and customers face in paying for care. 

NUHW leadership has called for strikes every time we are in bargaining. It is a key part of their bargaining strategy, and it is especially disappointing that they are asking our dedicated and compassionate employees to walk away from their patients when they need us most. We take seriously any threat to disrupt care. We urge our employees to reject any call for a strike, continue to focus on providing care, and work with us through the bargaining process to finalize a new agreement.

On day 63 of strike by Engineers, Local 39

Taking over where the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, OPEIU Local 29 and IFPTE Local 20 m members left off, Kaiser nurses are holding a 24-hour sympathy strike in solidarity with IUOE Stationary Engineers, Local 39. It started at 7 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 19 and will last until 7 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20, the California Nurses Association (CNA) announced. The strikes are being held at all Kaiser facilities in Northern California including both Antioch and Walnut Creek in Contra Costa County. Friday marks the 63rd day the Kaiser engineers have been on strike. (See related article)

“An injury to one of us is an injury to all of us, so nurses will be standing in solidarity with our engineer colleagues as they go on strike this month,” said CNA President Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Roseville. “It’s so important for working people to stand together, and we hope that with the nurses by their side, Kaiser engineers will win meaningful change for working people, and for safe patient care conditions.”

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaiser Permanente has made $13 billion in profits. However, rather than spend that money on increasing core staffing, Kaiser has proposed to float engineers among facilities. This model would institutionalize the staffing shortages that have already hurt patients and workers. Rather than accept this takeaway, engineers have been on strike for nearly two months.

“Nurses know the devastating impact that short staffing has on our community’s health and well-being,” said Kennedy. “We also know that in order to provide the safe patient care our communities need and deserve, we must be able to count on our coworkers and they must be able to count on us. So, we are standing with the Kaiser engineers in their righteous fight for a safe and just workplace.”

CNA registered nurses will be holding sympathy strikes at locations including:

• Antioch Medical Center, 4501 Sand Creek Rd, Antioch, CA 94531
• Walnut Creek Medical Center, 1425 S Main Street, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
• Fremont Medical Center, 39400 Paseo Padre Parkway, Fremont, CA 94538
• Fresno Medical Center, 7300 N Fresno Street, Fresno, CA 93720
• Manteca Medical Center, 1777 W. Yosemite Avenue, Manteca, CA 95337
• Modesto Medical Center, 4601 Dale Road, Modesto, CA 95356
• Oakland Medical Center, 3600 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611
• Redwood City Medical Center, 1100 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA 94063
• Richmond Medical Center, 901 Nevin Avenue, Richmond, CA 94801
• Roseville Medical Center, 1600 Eureka Road, Roseville, CA 95661
• Sacramento Medical Center, 2025 Morse Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95825
• San Francisco Medical Center, 2425 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94115
• San Leandro Medical Center, 2500 Merced Street, San Leandro, CA 94577
• San Rafael Medical Center, 99 Montecillo Road, San Rafael, CA 94903
• Santa Clara Medical Center, 700 Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara, CA 95051
• Santa Rosa Medical Center, 401 Bicentennial Way, Santa Rosa, CA 95403
• San Jose Medical Center, 250 Hospital Parkway, San Jose, CA 95119
• South San Francisco Medical Center, 1200 El Camino Real, South San Francisco, CA 94080
• South Sacramento Medical Center, 6600 Bruceville Road, Sacramento, CA 95823
• Vacaville Medical Center, 1 Quality Drive, Vacaville, CA 95688
• Vallejo Medical Center, 975 Sereno Drive, Vallejo, CA 94589

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 175,000 RNs nationwide.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

 

Including Antioch Kaiser workers; to continue Friday with different unions

Engineers on strike for 62 days, so far

By Renée Saldaña, Press Secretary, SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West

Thousands of SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW) members have been joined by OPEIU Local 29, IFPTE Local 20 in a sympathy strike to demand that Kaiser stop its economic bullying and agree to a fair contract with the Local 39 Operating Engineers. Workers walked off the job and onto the strike line at 7 a.m., today, Thursday, November 18 until 7:00 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19 at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Antioch and at various facilities across Northern California.

More than 40,000 workers from SEIU-UHW, OPEIU Local 29, and IFPTE Local 20 were prepared to walk out in support of the Local 39 engineers, making it the largest sympathy strike in the country.

“They’ve been out here all this time without a fair contract” said lifelong Antioch resident Kim Weiss, AMC Rep Chair for SEIU at Kaiser Antioch about the engineers. She works with cardiac and diabetes patients at the medical center. “We’re sympathy striking in solidarity. A total of 620 SEIU workers have been on strike at Antioch Kaiser, today.”

Healthcare workers wearing their uniforms planned to walk out onto the strike line, march, give speeches, distribute leaflets to passersby, hold signs and blow whistles in support of Kaiser engineers from Local 39.

“We are sympathy striking because Kaiser has lost its way and is putting its drive for profits over people, hurting our patients and union co-workers. The Local 39 engineers play a critical role in maintaining our facilities and the equipment we use to take care of patients,” said Ethan Ruskin, a health educator at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in San Jose. “Kaiser needs to put patients first and deliver a fair contract to the engineers.”

Earlier this week, healthcare workers representing SEIU-UHW’s 36,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Northern California voted by a 97% margin to authorize a one-day sympathy strike in solidarity with Kaiser engineers from Local 39 who have been on strike for two months.

Jobs affected by the sympathy strike vote include optometrists, clinical laboratory scientists, respiratory and x-ray technicians, licensed vocational nurses, certified nursing assistants, surgical technicians, pharmacy technicians, phlebotomists, medical assistants, and housekeepers, among other positions.

Engineers on Strike for 62 Days So Far

According to those on strike in Antioch, 800 engineers in Northern California including 13 stationary engineers and six or seven clinical engineers at the Antioch Kaiser have been on strike for 62 days, as of Thursday.

They fix all the piping and all the medical equipment, from the life support systems to anything else mechanical.

Asked about the large blow-up rat on display at the Antioch Kaiser strike, one of the union members said it referred to the Kaiser management and the “scab” workers doing their jobs while they’re on strike.

“They’ve brought in guys from out of state who have no training and paying them three times what they pay us,” said one of the strikers.

“Think of the risk at which they’re placing the patients with the equipment that’s not being maintained for over two months,” said Mark Morucci, Chief Engineer at Kaiser Antioch.

Sympathy strikes are taking place at the following locations starting at 7 a.m. on November 18:

• ANTIOCH: Kaiser Permanente Antioch Medical Center, 4501 Sand Creek Rd, Antioch CA 94531
• WALNUT CREEK: Kaiser Permanente Walnut Creek Medical Center, 1425 S Main St, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
• FREMONT: Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center, 39400 Paseo Padre Pkwy, Fremont, CA 94538
• FRESNO: Kaiser Permanente Fresno Medical Center, 7300 N Fresno St, Fresno, CA 93720
• MANTECA: Kaiser Permanente Manteca Medical Center, 1777 W. Yosemite Avenue, Manteca, 95337
• MODESTO: Kaiser Permanente Modesto Medical Center, 4601 Dale Road, Modesto, CA 95356
• OAKLAND: Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center, 3600 Broadway, Oakland, CA 94611
• REDWOOD CITY: Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center, 1150 Veterans Blvd, Redwood City, CA 94063
• RICHMOND: Kaiser Permanente Richmond Medical Center, 901 Nevin Ave., Richmond, CA 94801
• ROSEVILLE: Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center, 1600 Eureka Rd, Roseville, CA 95661
• SACRAMENTO: Kaiser Permanente Sacramento Medical Center, 2025 Morse Ave, Sacramento, 95825
• SOUTH SACRAMENTO: Kaiser Permanente South Sacramento Medical Center, 6600 Bruceville Road, Sacramento, CA 95823
• SAN FRANCISCO: Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center, 2425 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA
• SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO: Kaiser Permanente South San Francisco Medical Center, 1200 El Camino Real, S. San Francisco, CA 94080
• SAN JOSE: Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, 250 Hospital Parkway, San Jose, CA 95119
• SAN LEANDRO: Kaiser Permanente San Leandro Medical Center, 2500 Merced St, San Leandro, CA 94577
• SANTA CLARA: Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara Medical Center, 710 Lawrence Expressway, Santa Clara CA 95051
• SANTA ROSA: Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, 401 Bicentennial Way, Santa Rosa, 95403
• STOCKTON: Kaiser Permanente Stockton Medical Center, 7373 West Lane, Stockton CA 95210
• VACAVILLE: Kaiser Permanente Vacaville Medical Center, 1 Quality Dr, Vacaville, CA 95688
• VALLEJO: Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, 975 Sereno Drive, Vallejo, CA 94589

Another sympathy strike will take place on Friday by the NUHW and the California Nurses Association.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By Antonia Ehlers, PR and Media Relations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California

In response to the planned healthcare worker strikes beginning today and tomorrow, Thursday and Friday, Nov. 18 and 19, Kaiser Permanente issued the following statement:

We are extremely grateful for all our frontline health care workforce, whose commitment to providing care and service throughout the COVID-19 pandemic has been nothing short of inspiring. We recently reached successful agreements with dozens of unions that represent more than 60,000 Kaiser Permanente employees that demonstrate our commitment to providing excellent wages and benefits for all employees while meeting our commitment to delivering high-quality, affordable care for our members and patients. These are market-leading contracts, reached through constructive and reasonable bargaining.

Bargaining with Local 39 IUOE

Kaiser Permanente has been bargaining in good faith with Local 39 IUOE, the union that represents about 600 Kaiser Permanente operating engineers, for several months. The union decided to call a strike and have kept employees out for more than two months. We are offering Local 39 employees wages that are similar to our other employees’ and that, on top of Local 39’s generous medical and the richest retirement benefits, will keep our engineers among the best compensated in their profession, at an average of more than $180,000 in total wages and benefits. We are not proposing any take-aways and our proposals do not differentiate between current and future employees. But union leadership wants more, asking for unreasonable increases far beyond any other union at Kaiser Permanente.

UPDATE: Unfortunately, after many hours bargaining on Tuesday and Wednesday, there is no movement in negotiations with Local 39. The union insists it receive much more – in some cases nearly two times more – than other union agreements covering Kaiser Permanente employees.

Michelle Gaskill-Hames, Senior Vice President, Hospital and Health Plan Operations, Kaiser Permanente Northern California spoke via video about the workers and patient care during the strike.

We are optimistic that we can resolve the remaining issues with Local 39 at the bargaining table and reach an agreement that continues to reward our employees and supports health care affordability, just as we have with several unions this week.

Sympathy strikes

As one of the largest health care union employers in the United States — with nearly 75% of our employees working under collective bargaining agreements — we fully understand solidarity among unions. But given the demands of Local 39, on top of the already market-leading compensation and highest retirement benefit of any represented employee in our organization, we believe that sympathy strikes are not appropriate in this case. We are asking our staff to choose to be there for our patients, and to come to work.

We question why leaders of other unions are asking their members to walk out on patients on Nov. 18 and 19 in sympathy for Local 39. This will not bring us closer to an agreement and most important, it is unfair to our members and patients to disrupt their care when they most need our employees to be there for them.

Several unions have submitted sympathy strike notices: SEIU-UHW, Local 20, and Local 29 on Thursday, November 18 and the California Nurses Association, Friday, November 19. Kaiser Permanente is not in bargaining with these unions, and each has a current contract. In fact, we have informed SEIU-UHW, Local 20, and Local 29 union leaders that we believe in accordance with their contracts, these sympathy strikes are not protected by law.

We are also in bargaining with NUHW, the union that represents our mental health professionals. NUHW has announced a one-day strike for Friday, November 19.

We have taken steps to ensure that our members and patients will continue to receive high-quality, safe care and service should these strikes occur.

We have prepared thoroughly to care for our patients in the event of a strike and are working diligently to reduce the impact.

• During the strike, care will be provided by physicians and experienced clinical managers and staff, with the support of trained and qualified contingency staff.
• Some non-urgent medical appointments or procedures may be affected, and we will reach out to patients to reschedule or convert appointments to phone or video if that is appropriate. We will not postpone any urgent or emergency care, or critical medical appointments.
• We encourage members to schedule an appointment should they need lab, optometry, or radiology services this week as some of our locations will be temporarily closed or operating with reduced hours. If a member has an urgent need for services, they should call the Appointment and Advice Call Center, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Some outpatient pharmacies will be temporarily closed from Nov. 18 and 19.  If a member does not need their refill right away, any closed pharmacies will reopen on Saturday, Nov. 20. Our Mail Delivery pharmacy will remain open during the strike to order refills at kp.org or by phone.
• In the event an urgent prescription is needed and the outpatient pharmacy is closed, Kaiser Permanente staff will provide members with direction on how to fill their prescription at an open Kaiser Permanente pharmacy or at a retail pharmacy. Hospital pharmacies for inpatient care and critical infusion services will remain in operation.
• All our hospitals and emergency departments will continue to be open during a strike and remain safe places to receive care.

As this is an evolving situation, we will continue to communicate directly with our members and post updates on kp.org as they are available.

We are very sorry for any disruption members may experience as we take steps to ensure that we continue to provide high-quality, safe care during this union strike.

Kaiser Permanente is indisputably one of the most labor-friendly organizations in the United States.

Our history and our future are deeply connected to organized labor. Labor unions have always played an important role in our efforts to provide more people with access to high-quality care and to make care more affordable.

It’s unconscionable that union leaders would ask health care workers to walk away from the patients who need them and deliberately disrupt their care.