Southern California Kaiser Mental Health Workers Begin Open-Ended Strike
Strike Marks Anniversary of Record Fine for Kaiser Over Mental Health Services
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA — In a significant move, nearly 2,400 mental health professionals employed by Kaiser Permanente in Southern California are set to commence an indefinite strike on Monday, October 21. The workers, represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, are demanding improvements to the behavioral health system within the healthcare giant, which they claim is severely understaffed and leads to excessive wait times for patients.
The affected workforce includes psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, addiction medicine counselors, licensed clinical counselors, and marriage and family therapists. These professionals serve approximately 4.8 million Kaiser members across hospitals, clinics, and medical offices from San Diego to Bakersfield. Contract negotiations, which began in late July, are expected to continue into the following week, with the previous contract having expired on September 30.
“We want to be with our patients, but we can’t keep working in a system that doesn’t meet their needs and treats us like assembly line workers trying to meet a quota,” stated Lisa Delgadillo, a licensed clinical social worker at Kaiser in Fontana. “We’ve been fighting Kaiser for so long, and the only action that has had an impact is an open-ended strike.”
This strike follows a similar action two years ago by Northern California Kaiser mental health therapists, which lasted ten weeks and resulted in a four-year contract. This contract granted more time for patient care and provisions requiring increased staffing and services at mental health clinics. However, these improvements have not been extended to Southern California, resulting in disparities in care access and working conditions between the regions.
In Southern California, Kaiser staffs approximately 40 percent fewer mental health workers compared to Northern California, despite having about 200,000 more members, according to Kaiser's figures. This staffing shortfall forces many patients to seek care outside of Kaiser's network, thus missing out on the integrated care model Kaiser promotes.
Workers in Southern California are guaranteed only two hours per week for essential tasks such as responding to patient communications, preparing for appointments, and updating patient records. This contrasts with the seven hours guaranteed in Northern California, aligning more closely with industry standards. Kassaundra Gutierrez-Thompson, who provides brief therapy sessions, lamented, “I’m back-to-back all day in appointments. I have about three minutes to look at my patients’ charts. That’s not enough. Patients are getting burned out therapists who end up leaving because this isn’t what therapy is supposed to be.”
Between January 2021 and September 2024, one-quarter of the 1,508 mental health professionals hired by Kaiser in Southern California have left their positions, with 64 percent departing within the first year, according to company data.
The timing of the strike coincides with the one-year anniversary of a historic $50 million fine levied against Kaiser by the California Department of Managed Health Care for violations of mental health parity laws, including understaffing and canceling numerous therapy appointments during the Northern California strike. Kaiser acknowledged that staffing shortages contributed to prolonged wait times for therapy appointments, with state law requiring follow-up appointments to be completed within ten days.
Despite being mandated to overhaul its mental health services and submit a Corrective Action Plan, Kaiser has yet to provide a state-approved plan, as noted in a report. “Kaiser’s corrective action plan won’t be worth the paper it’s printed on as long as it insists on denying us enough time to do our work, and paying us less than our peers who don’t work in mental health,” said Gena Porter, a psychiatric nurse in Riverside.
The primary demands from the striking workers include aligning Southern California's working conditions with those in Northern California, equitable pay, and restoration of pensions. The latter has been a significant issue as mental health professionals, unlike most other Kaiser employees, lack pension benefits, contributing to high turnover rates.
“Everything we’re proposing in negotiations, Kaiser is already providing to the vast majority of its workforce,” explained Adriana Webb, a medical social worker at Kaiser specializing in HIV patient care. “If Kaiser is serious about transforming its mental health care system, it has to start by ending the inequities that harm us and our patients.”
The National Union of Healthcare Workers represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including over 4,700 Kaiser mental health professionals.
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