SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – After a long-winded strike, Kaiser Permanente and the National Union of Healthcare Workers reached an agreement earlier this week to improve labor conditions for mental health workers.
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The strike, which started Aug. 15, consisted of 2,000 mental healthcare workers in Northern California alleging that the healthcare provider was creating unethical working conditions.
These conditions were related to inadequate staffing levels, which workers said caused long wait times for patients, sometimes for months, to get an appointment with a therapist.
But after a grueling 10 weeks, a new contract was tentatively agreed to on Tuesday.
According to a joint announcement, between the two parties, the new 4-year agreement will focus on improving patient access to care, "while at the same time recognizing and better supporting mental health therapists in their important work."
Following the agreement was a 2-day ratification vote. As of Friday morning, the vote ratified the agreement, according to reporting by The Sacramento Bee.
The new contract includes a couple of extra hours each week for therapists to focus on patient care, the paper reported, as well as more hours to do additional patient administrative work, like responding to emails and messages.
Kaiser will also hire more therapists to ensure patients aren’t waiting so long to get an appointment and so that existing therapists aren’t overworked to meet patient need, the paper reported.
The healthcare provider will also form several committees to track and analyze essential labor areas, including patient intake and child and family therapy for six months, according to the paper.
Mental healthcare workers will also get a pay bump, with 4% the first year of the contract and then 3% each of the following years. They will also get a small bonus every other year of the contract.
For therapists who speak more than one language, they'll get an additional $1.50 per hour, up from $1, the paper reported.
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