Inside SEIU and Kaiser’s “Total Health” program
Peer pressure, privacy violations and discrimination
This week SEIU-UHW lifted the curtain on its “Total Health” partnership with Kaiser, and it’s not pretty.
A leaked, confidential memo spells out SEIU’s agenda for their new wellness program: “Goal should be to get people to peer pressure their friends.”
If any of us had doubts about what “Total Health” really means, we have our answer.
SEIU wants to pressure Kaiser workers into making the personal lifestyle choices that they’ve promised to management so that Kaiser can pay out less money for our health coverage. That’s what SEIU’s commitment to “Total Health” at Kaiser really means.
Not only will SEIU share our private, personal information with management, opening the door to discrimination in pay based on our health conditions, but now SEIU wants to establish a “peer pressure police,” poking their noses into our lifestyle choices, day-to-day decisions, and even reaching into our private discussions with our doctors.
It goes without saying that, as Kaiser workers, our personal health choices and health status are none of SEIU’s business.
When SEIU comes knocking to sign us up for their peer pressure campaign, we have a simple answer: “We want nothing to do with SEIU’s takeaways and partnership with Kaiser management. We’re voting NUHW.”
Sincerely,
Mary McClelland, Program Assistant, Kaiser Manteca
National Union of Healthcare Workers
PS. Here’s a leaflet in English and Spanish to print out and share with your co-workers and please read this excellent article by Carl Finamore in Labor Notes about how people all over the country are raising questions about who really benefits from “Wellness Programs.”