Kaiser Permanente has reached a tentative labor agreement with an alliance of union health care workers in eight states and Washington, D.C. that includes more than 30,000 workers in Southern California. The Oakland-based health care system announced Oct. 3 it had struck a national, three-year collective bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Health Care Unions that covers 48,000 unionized workers. The tentative agreement, reached Sept. 23, covers wages and benefits as well as a partnership between Kaiser and the Alliance that includes provisions for shared decision making and improved care for patients. The contract would cover 32,000 Kaiser Permanente workers – from registered nurses to pharmacists to service employees – in California, plus those in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Hawaii and Washington, D.C. It now must be ratified by union members, with voting expected to be completed by the end of October. If approved, the agreement would be retroactive to Oct. 1.
