Kaiser Permanente is shedding tons of of employees throughout California, additional deepening tensions with its union of 31,000 nurses that’s getting ready a five-day strike starting subsequent week.
In an Oct. 6 letter filed with the state’s Employment Growth Division, Kaiser’s Human Assets Director Christine Neubauer stated that the Oakland-based well being care supplier started notifying 216 employees of their layoffs beginning Sept. 17.
The majority of layoffs — 184 individuals — are coming to the Bay Space cities of Oakland, Redwood Metropolis, San Leandro, Pleasanton and Walnut Creek.
RELATED: 31,000 nurses, hospital workers to strike in opposition to Kaiser
The remaining layoffs — 32 — are happening in Corona, Downey, Los Angeles, Pasadena and San Diego.
She wrote that Kaiser anticipates the termination dates for workers will come after a 60-day notification interval throughout 15 hospitals and clinics all through California.
A Employee Adjustment and Retraining Notification — or WARN — is required when an employer lays off greater than 50 workers or a big proportion of its workers.
The discover filed by Neubauer indicated that jobs being reduce embrace a advertising director, supervisor of operations, dietary consultants, info know-how methods managers and engineers, and enterprise operations consultants. Earlier this yr, Kaiser reduce 118 positions in info know-how and enterprise operations, in line with earlier WARN filings.
Kaiser spokesman Terry Kanakri stated that every one the workers laid off in Southern California have been nonunion and supplied enterprise capabilities within the IT area. Of the 184 positions in Northern California, 134 have been represented by a union, primarily in IT and meals providers, he stated.
“We do not make these decisions lightly,” he stated. “We are helping them transition into other roles within Kaiser Permanente where able.”
On. Oct. 3, greater than 31,000 union nurses and hospital workers despatched a strike discover to Kaiser Permanente indicating their intent to stroll off their jobs on Oct. 14-19.
The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Well being Care Professionals stated it might be their largest strike in opposition to Kaiser, with tens of hundreds of nurses and healthcare professionals placing at two dozen hospitals and clinics throughout California and Hawaii.
By legislation, healthcare unions should give employers at the very least 10 days discover earlier than a strike in an effort to guarantee continuity of affected person care and permit hospitals to arrange.
The union is searching for greater wages, higher advantages and extra hiring to fill staffing shortages, stated Charmaine Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP, in a press release final month.
Members of the Alliance of Well being Care Unions contains 62,000 union members working at Kaiser nationwide. The contracts of 46,000 of those Kaiser employees expired Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, and practically all of their native unions have given Kaiser 10-day strike notices.
The overwhelming majority of union members work in California, the place one in 4 residents obtain care from Kaiser. The medical care supplier employs about 180,000 individuals in California.
Since Could, Kaiser has been negotiating with the Alliance of Well being Care Unions on a brand new nationwide settlement to switch the present settlement, which expired on Sept. 30.
“Kaiser Permanente strives to pay wages that are as much as 10% above the markets in which our employees work,” stated Kanakri in a press release. “Our economic offer to the Alliance exceeds that, offering wage increases totaling 21.5% over four years in addition to enhancements to the already strong benefits and investments in education and career development we provide our employees.”
“The Alliance began demanding a 38% wage increase and now wants 25% over four years,” he stated. “Though the difference between Kaiser Permanente’s 21.5% and the Alliance’s 25% seems small, it means significantly higher wage and benefit costs, leading to higher rate increases for members. Our offer shows how much we value our employees while keeping care affordable.”
On Wednesday, the nurses union paused its participation in a “Labor Management Partnership” with Kaiser.
The partnership, which was established in 1997, brings collectively frontline employees, managers and physicians all through Kaiser Permanente to enhance care and repair, scale back prices and work extra successfully.
Initially Revealed: October 10, 2025 at 6:10 AM PDT
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