Kaiser mental health strike: Aug. 29

NewsAugust 29, 2022

Kaiser executives were desperate for people to come back to work today. We even were told that Kaiser is so desperate that they offered free massages and catered food in Sacramento for anyone who crossed the picket line.

However, our numbers are holding strong — more workers turned out for today’s California picket lines than any day since the strike began, and they were joined today by our members in Hawaii, who launched an open-ended strike today with a picket line on Oahu. And Kaiser is slowly coming to grips with the fact that fundamental change is going to be required to settle these contracts.

Public interest in our strike is growing too, and more patients are speaking out. Today, CNN interviewed us for an online story and Crooked Media’s popular What A Day podcast posted a sensational interview with Alexis Petrakis of our Bargaining Committee. Over the weekend, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat highlighted the plight of multiple Kaiser patients who have struggled to get timely mental health care.

In Hawaii, several news outlets covered the first day of the strike. And, in California, strikers on picket lines filled up Governor Newsom’s voicemail with calls to intervene in the strike and helped patients who had their appointments canceled file complaints with the Department of Managed Healthcare. See our website for the latest photos and media roundup from Hawaii and California.

Financial support

We are working with attorneys to ensure that all financial hardship funds are legally compliant, and will have a further update on the funds soon. If you need financial support to sustain the strike, please fill out the form at nuhw.org/tempinfo. We can discuss a number of options, including possible temporary per diem work with behavioral health practices we’ve reached out to.

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