Kaiser Permanente reaches tentative deal with SEIU

Health-care group Kaiser Permanente said Wednesday that it has reached a deal with a coalition of unions to avert an 85,000-person strike nationwide, including a 3,000-worker walkout in Colorado.

In a statement, the Oakland, California-based company said the agreement would last four years and guarantee annual pay raises, create a list of jobs that cannot be outsourced and add $250 on top of the the company’s $500 employee tuition stipend, among other benefits.

The deal comes weeks after Service Employees International Union Local 105 in Denver overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement by the collective bargaining agreement’s closing at the end of the month. The unions were prepared to start the strike on Oct. 14.

Kaiser interim chief human resources officer Arlene Peasnall praised the deal as a bilateral effort between the company and its unionized workforce.

“This agreement is a testament to the dedication, compassion and skill those employees bring to work every day and demonstrates that Kaiser Permanente and the coalition have a shared commitment to affordability for our members,” she said.

The union coalition, which includes SEIU Local 105 in Denver, still has to ratify the agreement before Oct. 1. In a statement, the coalition said Kaiser agreed to give workers in Colorado a 3 percent annual raise in the first year of the deal, then get a 2 percent annual raise plus a 1 percent lump sum bonus in following three.

Pat Johnson-Gibson, a vice president at SEIU Local 105, said the deal was struck around 4 a.m. today, and should be a turning point in the management-union relationship that was at times strained over the year and a half of negotiations.

“This to me is a new beginning again from the brokenness, that we can stand together and we can work as a labor-management partnership,” she said.
Johnson-Gibson declined to say why the deal provides a smaller guaranteed raise for Colorado workers because it has yet to be ratified, but she described it as a “victory for Colorado region” compared to Kaiser’s previous offers.

The union coalition will consult with its members before setting a date to vote on ratifying the agreement, she said.

Kaiser has about 396 union members in its offices in Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Brighton, Longmont, Lafayette and Boulder.

This is a breaking story and will be updated throughout the day.

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