Monday, November 19, 2012

Partnership Unions Push Doublespeak as Kaiser Permanente Implements Layoffs


Check out this leaflet. It’s from UNAC, one of the “partnership unions” that represents RNs and professionals at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Southern California.

As Tasty reported, Kaiser’s execs are implementing an estimated 1,000 layoffs on members of SEIU-UHW, UNAC/AFSCME and other “partnership” unions in California -- even though the giant HMO has pocketed $2.1 billion in profits during the first nine months of 2012.


Talk about laying down for the boss!

Now, as workers voice their anger about the layoffs, the leaders of the partnership unions are pretending they’re angry too… even though they’ve been secretly meeting with Kaiser’s execs about the layoffs since last summer!

Think about it… If Dave Regan and the other bought-and-sold partnership officials are really “outraged” about the layoffs, why didn’t they say something about it when they first learned about Kaiser's plans last summer?

Here are some excerpts from the partnership unions’ suddenly outraged leaders (full copy is below):
Kaiser Permanente has taken a wrong turn. Despite our attempts to work in partnership and to protect our members’ rights under our contract, Kaiser issued notices on Friday, November 16 to 175 UNAC/UHCP members that their positions were being “eliminated.”

Our Union has been persistent in stating the obvious to top KP leadership: under our local contract, seniority is the governing factor in position elimination. At this time, Kaiser has blatantly chosen to ignore our agreement. UNAC/UHCP is filing both a grievance under the local contract and at the national level…

We will be moving forward with a comprehensive campaign to stop this madness. If you receive a notice, or are notified to meet with HR and/or your manager, please contact your staff representative immediately.
UNAC Leaflet on Kaiser Permanente's Layoffs of Healthcare Workers in California 11-16-12