A Kaiser strike by mental health workers drags on -- setting a US record -- as talks resume

https://calmatters.org/health/2025/04/kaiser-strike-mental-health-workers/

by Joe Garcia
April 15, 2025

Nearly six months into their labor union dispute against Southern California Kaiser Permanente, eight mental health care workers banded together last week in an organized five-day hunger strike to highlight their cause.

“Kaiser’s trying to starve us out, that’s clear — so, give them what they want,” said Adriana Webb, a member of the National Union of Healthcare Workers who chose to subsist solely on water and electrolytes from Monday morning through Friday evening. “I feel hungry for equity. I feel hungry for change. How is this any different?”

Now engaged in the longest mental health strike in U.S. history, the Southern California workers have been seeking a new union contract that would include:

*more mandated time between therapy sessions for patient follow up

*restoration of pension benefits that were removed from new employee contracts in 2015

*cost-of-living wage adjustments

FULL story at link above.


Aida Valdivia, a psychiatric social worker with Kaiser Permanente, sits on a blow-up air mattress that is set up in a room at West Hollywood United Church of Christ in West Hollywood on April 10, 2025. Kaiser's mental health workers have been on strike for six months, and the group in this room is on the fourth day of a five-day hunger strike. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters