Thousands of Kaiser Permanente Nurses Remain on PicketLines This Week

RIVERSIDE (CNS) - Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers in
the Riverside area will remain on picket lines today as their open-ended strike
alleging unfair labor practices amid prolonged contract talks enters it's
fourth week.
  

The roughly 31,000 members of the United Nurses Associations of
California/Union of Health Care Professionals vowed to stay on strike until a
fair contract agreement is reached. UNAC/UHCP members include registered
nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives,
physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists,
dietitians and other specialty health care professionals.
  

Picketing resumes at 9 a.m. Monday at Ontario Medical Center, 2295 S
Vineyard Ave.
  

``We're striking because Kaiser has committed serious unfair labor
practices and because Kaiser refuses to bargain in good faith over staffing
that protects patients, workload standards that stop moral injury and the
respect and dignity that Kaiser caregivers have been denied for far too long,''
said registered nurse Charmaine S. Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP.
  

``Striking is the lawful power of working people, and we are prepared
to use it on behalf of our profession and patients,'' Morales said.
  

Kaiser Permanente issued a statement saying it has ``proposed 21.5%
wage increases -- our strongest national bargaining offer ever -- and we are
prepared to close agreements at local tables now. Employees deserve their
raises and patients deserve our full attention, not prolonged disputes.''
  

Camille Applin-Jones, senior vice president at Kaiser Permanente
Southern California, described Kaiser's latest contract offer as ``one of the
strongest nursing contract offers in California this year'' once step increases
and local adjustments are factored in.
  

``Despite the union's claims, this strike is about wages. This open-
ended strike by UNAC/UHCP is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the
table. The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients -- the very
people we are all here to serve,'' Applin-Jones said.
  

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Kaiser with
the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company walked away from the
bargaining table in December and has attempted to bypass the agreed-upon
national bargaining process. The union has been bargaining with Kaiser since
last May.
  

``With the strike holding strong, pressure is mounting on Kaiser
Permanente to meet these demands and stop prolonged understaffing that
increasingly harms both workers and patients,'' union officials said Monday.
``If Kaiser is truly committed to its nonprofit mission, it must invest its
resources in what actually creates `healthy communities:' a healthy workforce,
safe patient-to-staff ratios, retention, training, and working conditions that
make quality care possible.''
  

Picket lines are also continuing Monday at Kaiser hospitals and
clinics in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego and San Bernardino counties, Northern
and Central California, as well as in Hawaii.