Kaiser employees are the only healthcare workers in the NW with a retiree medical benefit! But even though Kaiser made billions in profits last year due to our hard work, management may actually be looking to make cuts to our retirement benefits. We can’t let that happen! 

“Living pay check to paycheck makes it hard to save any money. It’s a scary thought not knowing what you will do when you’re at the age where you can’t work to make a living anymore. As the labor force that takes care of our members, we deserve to have that security.” -Summer Villers, Patient Access Specialist, Tanasbourne

“Our union is fighting to keep our retirement benefits at Kaiser, because once you lose something, you don’t get it back. I feel strongly that my grandkids should have the same retirement security that I have.” -Julie Markiewicz, Auditor II, Northwest Permanente PC

Take action!

Attend our “retirement parties” on March 26th–30th to learn about our fight to hold onto our retirement benefits for all Kaiser union members.

Sign the petition! Add your name to our call to protect retirement security and patient care at seiu49bargaining.org/take-action.

Wear your button!

SEIU 49 members are proudly wearing “Union Strong Bring It On” buttons in solidarity with our fight to protect patient care, win higher pay and keep our benefits. Contact a Contract Action Team (CAT) or bargaining team member to get your button today.

What’s in our retirement plans?

• 1.45% pension contribution and TSA match
• Employees eligible for retiree medical and retiring after 1/1/17 will be eligible for a KP Senior Advantage Plan with a $33 premium subsidy and a Health Retirement Account (HRA) that Kaiser will fund at $2000 per year of services.

Find out more at our retirement parties!

March 26–30, stop by to celebrate other members’ retirement (or your own!) and find out more details about what retirement will mean for you. See times and locations below:

It’s that time of year: Performance Sharing Program (PSP) bonuses are coming to hardworking Kaiser union members! As part of our national agreement, our union bargained an excellent incentive program that allows us to work together and be rewarded for our work in accomplishing our regional goals.

What’s next in bargaining?

Our first series of actions is coming up! On March 27, 28 and 29 our elected bargaining team is holding “retirement parties” around Kaiser worksites to share information and explain why we’re fighting hard during 2018 National Bargaining to hold onto our retirement benefits for all Kaiser union members. Be on the lookout for more information next week.

Wear your button!

SEIU 49 members are proudly wearing “Union Strong Bring It On” buttons in solidarity with our fight to protect patient care, win higher pay and keep our benefits. Contact a Contract Action Team (CAT) or bargaining team member to get your button today.

Stay informed, and get involved

If you haven’t yet, make sure you take a minute to follow our union online and get actively involved as we intensify our actions in the coming weeks.

• Follow our union on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, and
• Sign our petition to call for safe staffing and protect our good jobs!

“It’s clear Kaiser can afford to keep our co-pays, premiums and prescriptions at the price they are currently at. Kaiser makes billions of dollars in profit! When Kaiser employees are working so hard and tirelessly, we should be able to use the services we provide to our patients at a decent price! We’re telling Kaiser to stop caring about lining their pockets with unnecessary amounts of money and start caring about the health of the community and workers!”

-Summer Villers, Elected Bargaining Team Member and Patient Access Specialist

Bargaining is around the corner, but our campaign for a fair contract is already underway. We’re clear about our goals and standing firm in our commitment to protect our jobs, and improve our ability to care for our patients and our families.

There’s a lot at stake

Even though Kaiser just had its most profitable year ever and has $30 billion in reserves, management wants to outsource jobs, lower wages, and increase our healthcare costs. This is unacceptable, and we can’t afford to be complacent during these negotiations!

What we want

The results of our bargaining surveys were clear, and we’re moving forward to win on our top priorities, which are to win a long-term contract that:

• Includes wage increases we can live on – more than 2%!
• Keeps our healthcare affordable: no increases to co-pays and premiums
• Protects our retirement benefits
• Secures our jobs & career advancement opportunities
• Strengthens our union and improve our ability to solve problems quickly
• Improves backfill and staffing to protect patient care

Our plan to win

We’re going to win by harnessing our collective power, standing in solidarity, and taking bold action. Our elected bargaining committee is planning a series of escalating actions to get all Kaiser SEIU 49 active in our fight for the contract that we need and deserve.

Thousands of SEIU members in California have been picketing since February to fight back against Kaiser’s proposed outsourcing; now we need to raise our profile and get loud and visible, and show management that we are prepared to do what’s necessary to keep our workplaces safe and our jobs competitive.

Stay informed and get involved to win the great contract we deserve.

1. Sign the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions petition: bit.ly/49Kaiser2018
2. Sign up for text alerts by texting “Kaiser” to 787753 (PURPLE)
3. Sign up for email alerts with your personal email at bit.ly/SEIU49signup
4. Be on the lookout for information about our first set of actions on March 27, 28th, and 29th. Ask a CAT team member or bargaining committee member for more information.

Who says union actions can’t be fun? SEIU 49 leaders from across the union joined Kaiser Permanente workers in a fun action outside the Kaiser building in downtown Portland in January. We danced, we chanted, we raised our voices–and we’re letting Kaiser know that we’re not afraid to make some noise as we prepare to do the work of settling our best contract yet.

Kaiser SEIU members spoke loud and clear in our bargaining survey. Top priorities in 2018 bargaining include:

• Wage increases that reward employees and keep up with the high cost of living: more than 2% a year!

• Keep our healthcare & dental benefits affordable: no increases to co-pays and premiums

• Improved backfill and staffing

• Protect our retirement benefits including pension, TSA match & retiree medical

• Job security & career advancement opportunities

• Union strength and improving our ability to solve problems quickly

“The SEIU Local 49 bargaining team is clear that labor picks labor, and it’s not Kaiser management’s decision who gets to come to bargaining! We are going to stick together with the 55,000 sisters and brothers in SEIU UHW. We’re committed to bargaining together as a Coalition so we can protect our benefits and get the higher raises we deserve.”

-Jacy LaPlante, Registration Representative
SEIU 49 Executive Board Member and Bargaining Team CIC Member

I’m a proud member of SEIU UHW in California, and we want to be absolutely clear that Kaiser management is trying to divide and conquer our Union Coalition and we won’t stand for that. SEIU UHW is absolutely committed to sticking together as a whole Coalition and bargaining together. We also think it’s time that Kaiser Permanente management pay the same raises to ALL Kaiser members in all regions including Oregon & Washington, and we’re ready to fight together with all of you in the NW because we are stronger together.
-Georgette Bradford, Ultrasound Technician, Kaiser Sacramento

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