Posts tagged Kaiser Permanente
UAW and Ford reach tentative deal to end strike
October 26, 2023 // The Ford deal includes the biggest contract wins the UAW has secured in years, including a 25 percent hike in base wages through April 2028, the union said. The agreement provides cost-of-living adjustments to wages that will help raise the top hourly wage by over 30 percent to more than $40 by the end of the contract, union officials said. The starting hourly wage will grow to more than $28. The deal also shortens the time it takes new workers to reach the top wage, and eliminates wage tiers that left newer workers on a lower pay scale, the UAW said. It also boosts Ford’s contribution to retirement accounts.
Unions push to represent more workers, but organized labor’s share of jobs is declining
October 24, 2023 // For all the sound and fury on the labor front, its net effect is unknown. Unions’ overall share of the workforce was 10.1% in 2022 and declining, about half the rate of 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That percentage is swelled by union predominance in government work. In the private sector, the share of union jobs was 6% in 2022. The number of union members overall has grown but not as fast as jobs in the rest of the economy. “It takes a lot of new members to raise the union density,” said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
More than 330K striking Americans help unions flex power
October 19, 2023 // More than 330,000 American workers — from Hollywood actors to medical technicians — have participated in strikes since the start of September, according to Cornell University's labor tracker. Why it matters: Labor unions enjoying their highest approval ratings in generations are deploying hardball tactics in far-reaching sectors of the economy.
The year of the strike: what’s causing this labor movement and the potential impact
October 16, 2023 // Data from the Economic Policy Institute shows the number of workers striking fell sharply in 2020 and 2021 but then jumped 50 percent last year alone. Labor historians said another factor is the victory after some of these strikes. “As workers do engage in these actions, they encourage each other, to emulate the demands and to emulate the tactics in some ways,” said Joseph McCartin, labor historian at Georgetown University.
Union workers reach a tentative deal with Kaiser Permanente after the largest-ever US health care strike
October 13, 2023 // “The frontline healthcare workers of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente,” the union coalition said on X. “We are thankful for the instrumental support of Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su.” The company also thanked Su its tweet about the deal. “We are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with the frontline health care workers of the union coalition. We are thankful for the instrumental involvement of Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Su,” it said in its tweet. The strike last week lasted only three days, the length of time it had been scheduled to run. But the coalition of unions was threatening an eight-day strike next month with even more workers walking out if a new deal was not reached by October 31.
75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike
October 4, 2023 // The multi-state strike comes during a time of elevated labor activity in the United States. Several large-scale strikes have paralyzed companies and entire industries in recent months. The United Auto Workers are on strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — the first time the union has struck all three simultaneously. The entertainment industry also contended with dual strikes this summer after Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ unions went on strike at the same time for the first time since 1960. The leadership of the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios last month, but the actors’ guild strike is ongoing. The health care industry has been particularly affected by rising strike activity. From the start of 2022 through August of this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked 42 work stoppages of 1,000 or more strikers. Its count shows a third of those strikes were in health care. That’s up from 24% of major strikes in 2019, the year before the pandemic. The increased number of health care strikes have happened despite health care workers making up only about 9% of private sector union members nationwide.
Thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers plan to stage 3-day strike Wednesday
October 4, 2023 //
Kaiser Permanente union workers poised to strike after contract expires
October 2, 2023 // More than 75,000 workers at the largest nonprofit private health-care provider in the United States are poised to strike Wednesday after negotiations failed to reach an agreement over the weekend. The workers’ contract with Kaiser Permanente expired Saturday with disagreements still simmering over staffing levels, which unions have made a focus of their demands, along with better pay and benefits. The Coalition of Kaiser Unions on Monday accused Kaiser of negotiating in bad faith and committing unfair labor practices. Workers will strike Wednesday morning if Kaiser executives do not take “dramatic action now to solve the Kaiser short staffing crisis by investing in its workforce,” the coalition said in a statement to CNBC.
More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers threaten strike if labor agreement not reached
September 25, 2023 // The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions warned Kaiser that more than 75,000 workers will strike in early October if an agreement is not reached by the end of next week. The unions say understaffing has led to dangerous wait times for patients. Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health-care organization in the U.S. serving nearly 13 million patients. Kaiser has called the unions’ claims misleading and urged employees to resist a call for a strike.