Almost 2,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare staff in Hawaii plan to strike later this month over wages and staffing considerations.
UNITE HERE Native 5 stated the strike on account of start Nov. 22 would have an effect on 20 amenities throughout Hawaii. Hundreds of Kaiser healthcare staff in California have already stated they are going to strike beginning Monday.
Native 5 spokesperson Bryant de Venecia stated Wednesday that negotiations have been persevering with. Kaiser and the Alliance of Well being Care Unions started nationwide bargaining in April. Native 5 has been negotiating some Hawaii-specific points with Kaiser as effectively.
Native 5 stated in a information launch that Kaiser’s newest proposal was for an “insulting” 2% wage improve contingent on the union’s settlement to a two-tier wage system beneath which new hires would obtain decrease pay. The union stated Kaiser additionally failed to deal with considerations about quick staffing, whereas staff report being careworn and overworked throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Arlene Peasnall, Kaiser’s senior vice chairman of human assets, stated in a press release that Hawaii union-represented staff earn about 26% above the typical market wage. She stated Kaiser supplied as much as 4% yearly pay raises — 2% pay will increase plus a 2% money payout every year of a four-year contract.
“The problem we are attempting to deal with in partnership with our unions is the more and more unaffordable price of healthcare. … Wages and advantages account for half of Kaiser Permanente’s operational prices,” she stated, Hawaii Information Now reported.
