Even as the first few weeks of their strike against Kaiser Permanente last fall rolled by without movement on a new contract, mental health care professionals in Southern California remained guardedly optimistic.
Kaiser, after all, had already been through grueling labor negotiations with mental health care workers in Northern California and Hawaii in recent years, and in both cases the union-represented employees ultimately achieved substantial gains. Moreover, Kaiser has repeatedly been cited by California authorities for failing to adequately care for its mental health patients; it paid a record $50 million fine as part of a $200 million settlement with the state in 2023 that included promises to build out its lagging mental health care program.
