National bargaining set to begin
National bargaining between Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions opens April 6 in Oakland, Calif. The talks will use the distinctive interest-based bargaining process that guided negotiations in 2000 and 2005. The new National Agreement will serve as both a union contract for 96,000 union Coalition-represented employees; and a full expression of the longest, most complex and longest lasting labor management partnership (LMP in US history. The LMP guides the working relationships among employees, managers and supervisors, and physicians to achieve the best quality, service, and affordability while sustaining the best place to work.
With a new decade just beginning, our nation faces unprecedented economic challenges and stands at the cusp of historic health care reform. It is against this backdrop that Kaiser Permanente and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions enter into bargaining a new National Agreement.
We stand on the strong foundation of our 2005 National Agreement. We now have the opportunity to build on that foundation, focusing on improving performance so we can fulfill our historic social mission to our patients and communities.
“We look forward to working with our management and physician partners to keep Kaiser Permanente the leader in health care for this country,” said John August, executive director, Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. “With the passage of health care reform, the need for high quality, affordable health care has never been greater, and our world-class workforce is very proud to be a leader in mission-based, nonprofit health care, and in the commitment, innovation and performance improvements that union workers bring to the job every day.”
At Kaiser Permanente, the unions, management and physicians negotiate about traditional issues such as wages and benefits. But what makes our organization, and our Labor Management Partnership, unique is that we also bargain about topics such as workforce development, service quality, work-life balance, and healthy workforce. Indeed, the cornerstone of our 2005 National Agreement was a bold commitment to create and nurture unit-based teams throughout the organization. Today, barely five years later, there are hundreds of frontline teams in every region improving performance so we can be the best place to work and to give care at an affordable price.
As we begin bargaining this year, we will focus on how to grow and sustain this revolution in the health care workforce.
What we bargain is important, but so is how we bargain. We use an interest-based approach that focuses our attention on shared interests and strives to avoid many of the pitfalls of traditional, adversarial bargaining. In our experience, this approach helps us arrive at sometimes innovative solutions that best address everyone’s needs and builds the enduring trust we all need to deliver high-quality health care.
The members of the Common Issues Committee (CIC) will kick off bargaining April 6-8 in Oakland. More than 70 managers, workers and physicians will serve on the CIC, with many KP and frontline union members observing the process.
We have scheduled four more three-day bargaining sessions and aim to complete national bargaining by the middle of June. After that, union delegates will meet to review the tentative agreement and decide whether to endorse it. Ratification by Kaiser Permanente’s Board of Directors would occur shortly after. Local unions will then bargain issues unique to their members, and then local union members would vote on the national and local agreements. The new National Agreement would take effect October 1, 2010.
As we approach bargaining this year, we are humbled by the knowledge that we are not merely negotiating a labor agreement that affects almost 100,000 jobs and a large part of our economy. We are also continuing to build and strengthen a historic Labor Management Partnership that is transforming health care, transforming our workplaces and creating a legacy for the future of both.
“Our Labor Management Partnership provides a strong foundation for successful bargaining, and enables the organization and our workforce to position Kaiser Permanente as the model for health care delivery in a time of great change, challenge and opportunity,” said Chuck Columbus, SVP, Kaiser Permanente National Labor Relations. “We pledge to keep our colleagues informed about the process as it unfolds.”