Nearly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities are continuing their strike Thursday amid contract talks and allegations of a “broken” system of care.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Kaiser officials say the union has been “slow walking” the negotiation process and planned to strike before labor talks even began.
“It is apparent that their strategy all along has been to move to a strike,” said a Kaiser statement.
“They have been threatening to strike since before we began bargaining in July and have operated without a sense of urgency, declining to accept or counter the strong proposals Kaiser Permanente has put on the table. Most concerning, the union presented a proposal that could result in a full-time therapist spending 40% or more of their work week not seeing patients.”