Kaiser Permanente mental health workers strike can end with help of a mediator, Gov. Newsom suggests​on February 8, 2025 at 6:00 am

EAST HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Gov. Newsom is calling for a mediator to help end the strike by thousands of Kaiser Permanente mental health workers who walked off their jobs nearly four months ago.

Hundreds of mental health care workers packed Sunset Boulevard in front of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in East Hollywood on Friday. Nearly a dozen were arrested in a peaceful demonstration.

For nearly four months, the union has been on strike, pressing Kaiser for a pay and benefits package identical to what Kaiser gave the union’s Northern California unit.

“We’re not trying to break any new ground. We’re simply trying to achieve the same working environment, access to care issues that exist in Northern California,” said Sal Rosselli with the National Union of Health Care Workers.

Kaiser however says it’s unfair to compare its Northern California division to Southern California because of various demographic factors.

“We are two different business models at Kaiser Permanente, and we have two different geographic markets that are very different. Right now, the union is really focused on higher wages and more time away from patients,” said Dawn Gillam with Kaiser Permanente.

The standoff means about 2,400 mental health care workers in Southern California have been out of work since October.

Kaiser says it’s been able to fill the gap by planning to use outside therapists months before the strike was declared.

“We built an extensive network for our external providers to be able to see our patients. We are also very grateful that over 50% of our employees returned to work to see their patients,” Gillam said.

But Kaiser has a history of patient delays. About a year and a half ago, it paid the state of California a $200 million settlement after the hospital was accused of not giving patients timely access to treatment.

Striking workers say it hasn’t gotten any better.

“Currently we have one therapist for every 3,000 patients and we have one psychologist for every 57,000 patients. So the wait times are horrible,” said Ligia Pacheco, a striking mental health worker.

The stalemate has now garnered the attention of Gov. Gavin Newsom. Both sides have been in communication with him and are open to his idea of starting what he calls “focused mediation.”

Both sides are not slated to sit down and negotiate until next month. Meantime, the governor said his team is standing by and ready to pick a mutually agreed upon mediator.