LOS ANGELES – In a move that’s raising eyebrows from workers and patients across the country, healthcare giant Kaiser Permanente is one of only a handful of the nation’s nearly 200- largest corporations that refused to sign an Aug. 19 “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation,” calling on companies to shift from making shareholders their main focus to including all of their stakeholders, including employees and the community.

In a Politico article, Kaiser Permanente said it didn’t sign the Business Roundtable pledge because it is a non-profit and doesn’t have shareholders, even though the statement focuses on broadening to all stakeholders. Two corporations without shareholders – Guardian Life and New York Life – did sign the statement.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Just days after complaining that $44,000-per-year workers who are among 80,000 Kaiser Permanente employees preparing for a national unfair labor practice strike are paid too much, “non-profit” Kaiser Permanente released its 2nd-quarter earnings showing record profits totaling $5.2 billion for the year.

Kaiser Permanente gets huge tax breaks as a non-profit, meaning that at the same time it is taking in billions in profits it pays no income taxes and virtually no taxes to support schools, parks, roads, bridges, police, fire and other important community needs.

Kaiser has directly sent you numerous communications in a desperate attempt to directly negotiate a deal with you on your contract. The attached letter that was sent to Kaiser from the Coalition of Unions that clearly is a request to resume bargaining with the Coalitions Negotiation Team not a small group of union leaders that does not represent all the coalition unions.

OPEIU 29 is scheduling to vote the membership for a strike approval in September. Please watch for updates soon.

Kaiser sent an email proposal to the Coalition late Friday evening (7/26/19). The Coalition responded to the Kaiser’s failure to address the issues raised by the Coalition throughout National Bargaining.  A comparison sheet is on the website to show a side-by-side comparison of Kaiser’s regressive proposal.

• Comparison Flyer 728(.pdf, 194.94 KB) 
• 726 from kaiser(.pdf, 137.42 KB) 
• CKPU response to Kaiser 728(.pdf, 129.63 KB) 

Kaiser management’s approach to negotiating with our Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions has been chaotic, disrespectful and unlawful. KP illegally walked out of our negotiations over a year ago and only returned when they were indicted by the National Labor Relations Board. Despite repeated requests, they have refused to provide critical information. Instead of formal proposals, they have outlined different “options” on easel paper.

While these various “options” have been confusing, they are all uniformly unacceptable as they seek to divide workers, do not reflect Kaiser’s unprecedented financial success, do not protect our jobs and put our patients at risk.