“This is about equity for mental health care,” Jessica Rentz, a Kaiser therapist in Fontana. “We want to be with our patients, not on a picket line, but we can’t keep working in a system that treats mental health care like an assembly line job.”
One of the most distressing crises in this society is mental health. Some hide it, others let it go, and still others give up.
In all sectors of society we see their suffering: depressed children, suicidal youth, adults with different mental disabilities and a… sick society.
This is why it is difficult to assimilate the strike that begins today of hundreds of mental health workers seeking to improve their working conditions in one of the most successful health companies.
Nearly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities across Southern California amid contract talks and allegations of a “broken” system of care, while Kaiser officials say the union has been “slow walking” the negotiation process and planned to strike before labor talks even began.
“This is about equity for mental health care,” Jessica Rentz, a Kaiser therapist in Fontana, said in a statement released by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. “We want to be with our patients, not on a picket line, but we can’t keep working in a system that treats mental health care like an assembly line job and denies us the time and resources to provide the care we know our patients need.”
According to the union, the affected workers include psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, addiction medicine counselors, licensed clinical counselors and marriage and family therapists who “provide behavioral health care for Kaiser’s 4.8 million members in hospitals, clinics and medical offices homecare settings from San Diego to Bakersfield.”
The union’s contract with Kaiser expired Sept. 30. The labor dispute comes one year after Kaiser reached a $50 million settlement with state regulators who said the health care giant’s mental health care system lacked adequate staffing that caused lapses in access to care for patients.
The union contends that one-fourth of the 1,508 mental health professionals hired by Kaiser’s Southern California region between January 2021 and September 2024 have already left their positions.
According to Kaiser, it has presented the union with an offer that includes an 18% salary increase over four years, and also “enhances the comprehensive benefits our mental health professionals enjoy plus provides therapists more non-patient time for planning and preparation.”
Union officials said they are seeking an agreement similar to that reached with Kaiser mental health workers in Northern California, who went on strike for 10 weeks two years ago.
The union is asking Kaiser guarantee full-time therapists seven hours per week for patient care duties such as responding to patient calls and emails, developing treatment plans, communicating with social service agencies and preparing for appointments. Union officials said Kaiser is guaranteeing only four hours per week.
The union also wants raises to put the workers on par with non-mental health care employees, who the union claims earn 40% more. It is also calling for a restoration of pensions that the union says were eliminated for newly hired mental health professionals a decade ago, even though pensions are still in place for other workers ranging from doctors to janitors.
Kaiser officials said that if a strike does occur, it has “comprehensive plans in place to minimize potential disruptions.”
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