We’re telling Kaiser “No way!”
Brothers and Sisters:
Yesterday, on behalf of 4,000 NUHW members in dozens of Kaiser hospitals and clinics all over California, we issued official notice to Kaiser Permanente of our plan to engage in a statewide strike in two weeks’ time.
We will be joined by 17,000 RNs from the CNA who are walking off the job with us on a one-day sympathy strike. This will make our strike the largest strike in Kaiser’s history.
We are serious and determined to fight Kaiser’s takeaways.
At a time of record profits, Kaiser has proposed cuts to our health and retirement benefits and has refused to agree to our demands for contractually-enforceable patient care standards. We can’t afford to accept Kaiser’s takeaways, and neither can our patients.
As RNs, psychologists, therapists, social workers, optical workers, health educators,dietitians, speech pathologists and audiologists united in NUHW, we’re standing up and fighting back. And we’re not alone.
If Kaiser succeeds in enacting these cuts, it will affect all Kaiser workers, especially members of the Kaiser Service and Tech and MSW units represented by SEIU-UHW who will soon face the same takeaways. In fact, SEIU’s appointed leader, Dave Regan,has already agreed to the cuts in a secret backroom deal with Kaiser.
Kaiser’s proposed cuts aren’t just takeways at the margins. These proposals would fundamentally change what it means to work at Kaiser.
We fought hard to win a secure and dignified retirement, with a monthly pension and retiree health benefits. Kaiser wants to eliminate our defined benefit pensionand phase out future retiree health coverage. Kaiser is also proposing major hikes to our co-pays and attempting to force all part-time workers to pay for their health premiums.
We’re not going to let Kaiser take us backwards. Together, with 17,000 CNA RNs, we are fighting back.
Sincerely,
Jim Clifford, Therapist, Kaiser San Diego
National Union of Healthcare Workers
PS. Print and share this leaflet with your co-workers.