Kaiser Permanente is laying off hundreds of workers across California, further deepening tensions with its union of 31,000 nurses that is preparing a five-day strike beginning next week.
In an Oct. 6 letter filed with the state’s Employment Development Department, Kaiser’s Human Resources Director Christine Neubauer said that the Oakland-based health care provider began notifying 216 workers of their layoffs starting Sept. 17.
The bulk of layoffs — 164 people — are coming to the Bay Area cities of Oakland, Redwood City, San Leandro, Pleasanton and Walnut Creek.
The remaining layoffs — 52 — are taking place in Corona, Downey, Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Diego.
She wrote that Kaiser anticipates the termination dates for employees will come after a 60-day notification period across 15 hospitals and clinics throughout California.
A Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification — or WARN — is required when an employer lays off more than 50 employees or a significant percentage of its staff.
The notice filed by Neubauer indicated that jobs being cut include a marketing director, manager of operations, nutritional experts, information technology systems managers and engineers, and business operations consultants. Earlier this year, Kaiser cut 118 positions in information technology and business operations, according to previous WARN filings.
It’s not clear if the jobs cut were union positions.
On. Oct. 3, more than 31,000 union nurses and hospital staff sent a strike notice to Kaiser Permanente indicating their intent to walk off their jobs on Oct. 14-19.
The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said it would be their largest strike against Kaiser, with tens of thousands of nurses and healthcare professionals striking at two dozen hospitals and clinics across California and Hawaii.
By law, healthcare unions must give employers at least 10 days notice before a strike in order to ensure continuity of patient care and allow hospitals to prepare.
The union is seeking higher wages, better benefits and more hiring to fill staffing shortages, said Charmaine Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP, in a statement last month.
Members of the Alliance of Health Care Unions includes 62,000 union members working at Kaiser nationwide. The contracts of 46,000 of these Kaiser workers expired Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, and nearly all of their local unions have given Kaiser 10-day strike notices.
The vast majority of union members work in California, where one in four residents receive care from Kaiser.
Since May, Kaiser has been negotiating with the Alliance of Health Care Unions on a new national agreement to replace the current agreement, which expired on Sept. 30, said Kaiser spokesman Terry Kanakri in a statement.
“Kaiser Permanente strives to pay wages that are as much as 10% above the markets in which our employees work,” he said. “Our economic offer to the Alliance exceeds that, offering wage increases totaling 21.5% over four years in addition to enhancements to the already strong benefits and investments in education and career development we provide our employees.”
“The Alliance began demanding a 38% wage increase and now wants 25% over four years,” he said. “Though the difference between Kaiser Permanente’s 21.5% and the Alliance’s 25% seems small, it means significantly higher wage and benefit costs, leading to higher rate increases for members. Our offer shows how much we value our employees while keeping care affordable.”
On Wednesday, the nurses union paused its participation in a “Labor Management Partnership” with Kaiser.
The partnership, which was established in 1997, brings together frontline workers, managers and physicians throughout Kaiser Permanente to improve care and service, reduce costs and work more effectively.
“The unions’ pause on partnership, which relates to their participation in internal LMP meetings and projects, is a tactic intended to apply pressure at the bargaining table,” Kanakri wrote in a statement to the Southern California News Group. “It’s not unexpected, but it is disappointing and breaks faith with our employees and managers.”