This week, Kaiser management launched its 2018 contract campaign by circulating a memo claiming that our sisters and brothers at SEIU-UHW in California will be excluded from upcoming national bargaining with the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
With this move, Kaiser is trying to divide our Union Coalition and take away the collective voice of 55,000 California SEIU members in national bargaining. Why? Because management knows the power SEIU collectively brings to protect against Kaiser attempts to cut workers’ wages and benefits.
Kaiser has made their plan perfectly clear. They want to:
- Continue to pay ROC regions like Oregon, Washington and Colorado less than workers in California who do the exact same jobs;
- Increase co-pays and out of pocket costs for healthcare;
- Outsource our jobs to low-wage, non-benefited companies; and
- Raise rates for Kaiser patients.
They want to do all of this even though they’re raking in their biggest profits in history, sitting on $30 billion in cash reserves, and paying more than 25 executives well over one million dollars a year.
We’re not letting them get away with it. We don’t believe their effort to exclude SEIU- UHW from national bargaining will stand legally — and we are ready to stick together, and are inviting all the Coalition Unions to stand with us to stop them.
Knowledge is power, so let’s stick together and stay informed:
- Sign up for urgent bargaining updates via text by texting the word KAISER to 787753 (or PURPLE)
- Use and follow our hashtag #KaiserUnionStrong for information online
- Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at SEIU49.
In unity,
Meg Niemi, President
SEIU Local 49