According to the L.A. Times, Kaiser made the top ten list for corporate spending on lobbying in Sacramento last year.
Q. What legislation has Kaiser been trying to buy with our patient care dollars?
A. Last year, Kaiser’s top priority was to kill AB 52, a bill designed to protect consumers from out-of-control rate increases from insurers like Kaiser.
Our patient care dollars at work!
Weekly Workers’ Roundup: Bay Area Nurses Walk Out, Puget Sound Truck Drivers Protest
by: Patrick Glennon, Working In These Times
Nurses at Kaiser Permanente in California walked off the job Tuesday, expressing solidarity with optical workers and mental health specialists in the midst of contract negotiations.
Union representatives argue that recent proposals would slash workers’ benefits significantly and render staffing levels insufficient.
The California Nurses Association (CNA) said that the walk-off is the largest the HMO has ever seen. The National Union of Healthcare Workers, the union responsibe for the negotiations, coordinated the strikes with CNA. There are three Kaiser facilities in San Mateo County—San Mateo, Redwood City and San Francisco.
According to Dr. Spencer Gross, Kaiser executives’ recent proposals betray a predilection for greed: “What it boils down to is Kaiser top executives putting profits before patient care.”
CNA co-president and practicing nurse Zenei Cortez echoed this sentiment, saying that it’s “disappointing that Kaiser is refusing to bargain for sufficient staffing for mental health services and a secure retirement and accessible health coverage for its front-line caregivers despite its record profits”
See video above for more information on the dispute.
[audio:http://kaiserunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/KPFA_Editorial_KaiserStrike.mp3|titles=KPFA_Editorial_KaiserStrike]
WorkWeekRadio documents our Kaiser strike.
Photos taken by NUHW members during our Jan 31 strike at Kaiser. Submit your photos to strikephotos@nuhw.org.
Here are times and locations for our January 31 strike at Kaiser Permanente, as well as important information to share with your co-workers, including information about the right to sympathy strike.
Sacramento-area Picket Line locations
South Bay Area Picket Line locations
North Bay Area Picket Line locations
East Bay Area Picket Line locations
San Francisco and Peninsula Picket Line locations
Central Valley Picket Line locations
Southern California Picket Line locations
Leaflets and Important Information:
Join us on the Picket Line! [English][Espanol]
Kaiser is having a Panic Attack! [Leaflet]
17,000 CNA Nurses will be united with us [Leaflet]
Questions and Answers about our Statewide Strike [English] [Espanol]
Legal memo on the right to sympathy strike [Legal Memo]
Photos from our September 22nd Strike: