Healthcare-worker union members picketed in front of the Kaiser medical offices in Santa Rosa on Wednesday demanding fair compensation and drawing attention to ongoing staffing shortages.
With the mass influx of people heading to medical facilities continuing beyond the pandemic, the new normal for healthcare workers has become an overwhelming amount of work, say members of SEIU United Healthcare Workers West. The midday demonstration drew honks and shouts of support from passersby near the facility at Bicentennial Way and Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa.
The current contract between Kaiser Permanente and the SEIU-UHW is set to expire Sept. 30. Workers say chronic understaffing has occurred since the pandemic, and many are ready to take a stand for improved working conditions. Allison who is a steward for SEIU said, “We just want to let Kaiser know that we are not going to back down.”
Negotiations surrounding the contract were last made in 2019, prior to the pandemic. Kaiser Permanente officials released a statement last week framing the planned protest as a negotiating tactic. “Given where we are in the bargaining process it is clear that the picketing … is not about drawing attention to new issues, but rather an attempt to create some kind of bargaining leverage.”
Union officials, meanwhile, said the issue isn’t only about worker well-being, but patient care as well. “Caregivers say understaffed hospitals and clinics are unsafe and can lead to long wait times, mistaken diagnoses and neglect, making it harder to give patients quality care,” the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said in a press release announcing the protests.
Over 40 Kaiser facilities across the state are expected to join the picket lines this week, as well as those in Colorado, Oregon and Washington. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions represents more than 85,000 health care workers in seven states and the District of Columbia.