Over the weekend, Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Health Care Unions reached a tentative four-year contract agreement after being at the brink of a potential strike
If solidified, the agreement would cover nearly 50,000 Kaiser Permanente health care employees across multiple states.
Douglas Wong is a Physician Assistant at Riverside Kaiser. He said, “Kaiser Permanente originally had wanted us to cut wages for the next generation of nurses and healthcare workers by 26%, which was something that you know we just didn’t feel was right.”
The 26% cut for new employees was retracted from the proposed contract as part of their negotiations. Wong added that the contract would especially benefit janitors, technicians, and assistants, whom he says would’ve been hit hard by the cuts.
“I think it can’t be understated how important this was for folks on the ground, to be able to say that the work that we do is important and that the future of those doing this work is important, and that they deserve the opportunity to build maybe even something better than we’ve had,” said Wong.
In a press release, Kaiser’s Senior Vice President Christian Meisner said the agreement underscores their unwavering commitment to their employees by maintaining industry-leading wages and benefits.
BYLINE: KVCR | Contributed
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