Planned Kaiser strike postponed following death of Kaiser CEO
A planned five-day strike by 4,000 Kaiser Permanente psychologists, mental health therapists and other medical professionals, originally to have started Monday, has been postponed in acknowledgement of the death Sunday of Kaiser CEO Bernard Tyson.
After learning of Tyson's death, 170 member-leaders of the National Union of Healthcare Workers voted to postpone the strike. A new date for the strike has not yet been set.
"Our members dedicate their lives to helping people through tragedy and trauma, and they understood that a strike would not be appropriate during this period of mourning and reflection," NUHW President Sal Rosselli said in a statement Sunday.
The strike, which had been scheduled to go from Monday, Nov. 11 to Friday, Nov. 15, would have shut down mental health services at more than 100 Kaiser clinics and medical facilities from San Diego to Sacramento.
Tyson, 60, died in his sleep early Sunday morning. He had been Kaiser's CEO since 2013, and had been with the 11.8 million-member health plan for over 30 years.
Kaiser clinicians remain ready to resume negotiations to discuss their proposals for improving access to mental health care and boosting the recruitment and retention of clinicians by securing the same retirement and health benefits Kaiser has agreed to give 140,000 other employees in contracts settled over the past year, the NUHW said in Sunday's statement.