75,000 Kaiser nurses, pharmacists and other workers strike

[pixy0stix]

www.npr.org/2023/10/04/1203225614/kaiser-permanente-historic-strike-health-care-workers-nationwide

[Jalapeñomel]

Everyone should follow suit.

Will raising the wages be enough to retain employees? I'm sure there's data on how many of them went to other big companies vs. starting their own or going to small, independent practices? How do they keep from getting burn out...less hours, more money?

[ksun]

It's such an interesting strike - strike for 3 days then back to work. I don't work for Kaiser, but for one of their preferred providers so my caseload is 90% Kaiser. I've been on hold for verbal orders for almost an hour now and am pretty much guessing I won't get thru today.

[fryjack2]

Oct 4, 2023 13:36:01 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Everyone should follow suit.

Will raising the wages be enough to retain employees? I'm sure there's data on how many of them went to other big companies vs. starting their own or going to small, independent practices? How do they keep from getting burn out...less hours, more money?

More and more, small independent practices are being bought by VCs or being forced to be absorbed by larger practices or hospital/healthcare systems because the cost to operate is too high.

Healthcare has always had a high burn out rate. Covid made it so much worse

[Saudade]

Oct 4, 2023 15:24:53 GMT -5 ksun said:

It's such an interesting strike - strike for 3 days then back to work. I don't work for Kaiser, but for one of their preferred providers so my caseload is 90% Kaiser. I've been on hold for verbal orders for almost an hour now and am pretty much guessing I won't get thru today.

Idk about Kaiser but here in MN that’s how the nursing strikes go. First is for 3 days. If no deal is reached afterwards they notify for a longer strike. Last fall (2022) we had the largest one (in terms of employees) for 3 days and it was able to be solved right before the 10 day strike notice.

[bugandbibs]

I fully support it. We can't continue to operate they way we are. Caseloads are too high, patients have more complex chronic needs, we except too much for too little. As someone who just came off a strike, the attitude large employers have towards their employees needs a fundamental shift.

I am still salty to this day about the lecture we nurses got from a new HR director that we all needed to be "value added employees" which essentially boiled down to bust your ass to work at max efficiency at all times and take on extra duties for free so the company could save money elsewhere and offer all of these "bonus" services.

[wanderingback]

1) good for them
2) I wish more and more physicians were in unions
3) it seems like this healthcare crisis is going to continue to get worse and of course the rich will just get richer and healthier

[sent]

They should absolutely strike.

I never make these kinds of recommendations but the YouTuber “Glaucomflecken” is a practicing physician who makes humorous shorts about corruption in healthcare. I’ve recognized details in his skits that he threw in from various ProPublica articles also about healthcare corruption. Highly recommend checking out his content on how and why the current system is so so bad.

[goldengirlz]

I think it’s important to note that this strike is primarily about allied health professionals — technicians, medical assistants, nursing assistants, home health aides, patient transporters and sanitation workers. These jobs represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce but they’re often overlooked (and definitely underpaid). They’re also disproportionately likely to be held by people of color, and women in particular.

But speaking of doctors and nurses, I’ve read that this has been a historic time for collective bargaining in healthcare — record numbers of nursing strikes and record numbers of physicians (residents in particular) unionizing. Definitely a paradigm shift for the industry.

ETA: The NPR article says “nurses” but it’s primarily LVNs and LPNs. Kaiser nurses (RNs) have their own union, and I believe they just ratified a new contract last year, at least in California.

[wanderingback]

Oct 4, 2023 17:28:41 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I think it’s important to note that this strike is primarily about allied health professionals — technicians, medical assistants, nursing assistants, home health aides, patient transporters and sanitation workers. These jobs represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce but they’re often overlooked (and definitely underpaid). They’re also disproportionately likely to be held by people of color, and women in particular.

But speaking of doctors and nurses, I’ve read that this has been a historic time for collective bargaining in healthcare — record numbers of nursing strikes and record numbers of physicians (residents in particular) unionizing. Definitely a paradigm shift for the industry.

ETA: The NPR article says “nurses” but it’s primarily LVNs and LPNs. Kaiser nurses (RNs) have their own union, and I believe they just ratified a new contract last year, at least in California.

I would like to point out that LPNs are nurses so it’s not "nurses" as they are literally nurses- licensed practical nurses. No need for the quotes. The article title is correct to call them nurses.

[goldengirlz]

Oct 4, 2023 18:10:26 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

Oct 4, 2023 17:28:41 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I think it’s important to note that this strike is primarily about allied health professionals — technicians, medical assistants, nursing assistants, home health aides, patient transporters and sanitation workers. These jobs represent the largest segment of the healthcare workforce but they’re often overlooked (and definitely underpaid). They’re also disproportionately likely to be held by people of color, and women in particular.

But speaking of doctors and nurses, I’ve read that this has been a historic time for collective bargaining in healthcare — record numbers of nursing strikes and record numbers of physicians (residents in particular) unionizing. Definitely a paradigm shift for the industry.

ETA: The NPR article says “nurses” but it’s primarily LVNs and LPNs. Kaiser nurses (RNs) have their own union, and I believe they just ratified a new contract last year, at least in California.

I would like to point out that LPNs are nurses so it’s not "nurses" as they are literally nurses- licensed practical nurses. No need for the quotes. The article title is correct to call them nurses.

I used quotes not to demean them but to quote the article. I too would have thought RNs, LPNs and LVNs would be under the same union — and maybe they are at some health systems — but apparently not at Kaiser.

ETA: This isn’t about some snobbery on my part. Registered nurses have pretty powerful unions. LPNs and LVNs may be nurses for all intents and purposes but if they’re compensated at a lower level, and not included in the same union negotiations, the issues at stake are different and more similar to the allied health workforce. That’s all I meant.

[Jalapeñomel]

Oct 4, 2023 16:16:27 GMT -5 bugandbibs said:

I fully support it. We can't continue to operate they way we are. Caseloads are too high, patients have more complex chronic needs, we except too much for too little. As someone who just came off a strike, the attitude large employers have towards their employees needs a fundamental shift.

.

It feels like we are on a precipice, and I hope we can actually topple the system as it exists now.

Education, healthcare, auto workers, entertainment, all of it.

[dirtyred]

As a former healthcare worker, the one thing that will help with burnout is staffing levels.  Staff is cut to the bone, no matter the acuity, and if someone calls in, everyone, including the patients, is screwed.

[wanderingback]

Oct 4, 2023 18:54:36 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

Oct 4, 2023 18:10:26 GMT -5 wanderingback said:

I would like to point out that LPNs are nurses so it’s not "nurses" as they are literally nurses- licensed practical nurses. No need for the quotes. The article title is correct to call them nurses.

I used quotes not to demean them but to quote the article. I too would have thought RNs, LPNs and LVNs would be under the same union — and maybe they are at some health systems — but apparently not at Kaiser.

ETA: This isn’t about some snobbery on my part. Registered nurses have pretty powerful unions. LPNs and LVNs may be nurses for all intents and purposes but if they’re compensated at a lower level, and not included in the same union negotiations, the issues at stake are different and more similar to the allied health workforce. That’s all I meant.

Ok got it!
Your sentences were very confusing cause you said "Kaiser nurses have their own union" but LPNs and LVNs are nurses so it made it sound like you were laying LPNs and LVNs aren’t nurses.

The big unions in my city for healthcare workers RNs, LPNs and LVNs are indeed with the same union. In some jobs it also includes NPs and PAs.

[picksthemusic]

As a medical assistant, I'm glad they are taking on a corp as big as KP. Hopefully they listen and get a good contract. If they do, it might (lol forever) trickle down to other organizations. I work for one of the worst (Optum/United Healthcare), and I feel like I'm working for the devil. I'm working on finding another job, hopefully this time with the county health department (yay already unionized, great benefits, and a retirement package!!) that has room for actual growth!

[Michelle]

I don't see how healthcare staff will ever be paid their full worth until we get universal healthcare. So much about healthcare corruption is because of the role that insurance plays. The cost of the insurance middleman weighs our system down so heavily with administrivia. And then there are the lobbyists who, some would say rightfully, lobby that if we go to universal healthcare and cut out all those middleman jobs, what will our economy do with all the coders and revenue cycle people whose jobs inflate our system? What jobs will they convert to if we don't need entire armies tasked with coding charges to squeeze the most out of whichever orange, grapefruit, or grape it can get the money from?

And yes of course there is also executive compensation just like all other companies in America. And pharmaceutical prices. There is a lot to choose from. But we really need to blow up the system and put it back together because there is so much excess weighing down the system, and it all takes a bite out of front-line worker pay, and at the health expense of the most vulnerable in our society.