Kaiser Permanente workers: Strike is about patient care, not money
(Photo by Matthew Keys for Solano NewsNet)
Mental health workers employed by Kaiser Permanente have been on strike for more than a week, picketing in front of the health care provider's two Solano County campuses as part of a broader strike that could continue for several more weeks.
On Thursday, more than a dozen therapists, mental health clinicians and their supporters were in front of the Kaiser Permanente hospital in Vacaville. The group is normally larger, but several Solano County-area mental health workers were in Sacramento that day to meet with state lawmakers at the Capitol there.
The workers say they have been seeing patients at Kaiser Permanente's hospitals and clinics throughout the state without a new union contract since last September. Last month, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) authorized an open-ended strike after both sides failed to reach an agreement for a new contract.
"Patients are getting ripped off while Kaiser’s coffers are bulging," Sal Rosselli, the president of NUHW, said in the statement. "We don’t take striking lightly, but it’s time to take a stand and make Kaiser spend some of its billions on mental health care."
April Brownell, a Vacaville-based child therapist who serves as the local spokesperson for NUHW, said the strike was more about patient care than money.
"We have already agreed to the economic plan," Brownell said. "We are not out here for money."
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