8/10/21
On Monday, August 2nd Kaiser Permanente (KP) announced its vaccination mandate without notifying the Union. On Thursday, August 5, the state of California announced a new mandate for COVID vaccination or testing for health care workers unless they have medical or religious exemptions by September 30.
KP decided this policy without consulting us even though we are currently in negotiations over both our Local and National Contract. This is a slap in the face of the Partnership and we are disappointed that KP excluded workers who have worked through this pandemic.
We support the CDC recommendation that health care workers receive the COVID-19 vaccine to protect themselves and our members.
As a union, we have a responsibility to ensure our workers, our families and our patients are protected. We immediately demanded to bargain over the change to our working conditions. We will fight for a safe policy that protects employees.
We will ensure KP’s policies protect the rights of employees with medical or religious exemptions.
USW 7600 and Alliance leadership is currently in discussions with KP about the next steps for bargaining over the effects of this new mandate and policies.
This move by KP is another that clearly shows, management is not committed to engaging its workers in Partnership. At National Bargaining, KP recently gave a proposal to pay future new hires dramatically lower wages. Creating an underclass of union members doing the same work for less pay and cheaper benefits is not partnership.
Join our local town hall Thursday, August 12th at 6:00 pm and hear more from your leadership about Local and National Bargaining and this demand to bargain.
Register by going to: https://usw7600.ink/Aug
Or by Scanning this QR code
