Several hundred Alliance Union members spent three-and-a-half intense days working with managers, tackling issues in an Economics work group and two subgroups – Partnership and Operational Effectiveness.

The Partnership subgroup worked on two of their four deliverables: partnership expectations and LMP training.

The bargaining team for the Alliance Unions assembled on Tuesday in Anaheim and got right down to work. After we reached agreement with management on an updated version of the original 1997 LMP Agreement, bargaining has officially opened!

At the evening bargaining kick-off session, bargainers and Union observers heard speeches by representatives from the Unions, management, and the Permanente Federation.

We continue to move toward reaffirmation of the Partnership and national bargaining between our new Alliance of Health Care Unions (AHCU) and Kaiser Permanente (KP).

In recent discussions with our Alliance Executive Board, KP senior management expressed interest in affirming a new Partnership.

The next step toward bargaining: Kaiser Permanente has invited the leaders of all unions who represent employees at Kaiser to attend a national labor summit on Monday, May 7 in Oakland.