SEIU and Kaiser Permanente Plot Fake Publicity Stunts to Promote Corporate Wellness Program

Check this out. 

A source provided a copy of a secret plan hatched by SEIU-UHW and Kaiser Permanente that seeks to promote an invasive corporate wellness program that SEIU-UHW's Dave Regan accepted during last year’s negotiations with Kaiser. Tasty has posted a copy of the plan below.

According to the secret plan, Kaiser and SEIU plan will soon stage a series of publicity stunts to try to get positive media coverage of their intrusive wellness program.

Which wellness program are SEIU-UHW and Kaiser trying to promote?

During last year’s partnership negotiations, SEIU-UHW’s Dave Regan agreed to allow Kaiser to annually collect “biometric data” from each of SEIU-UHW’s 45,000 members so that Kaiser can monitor workers’ weight (“body mass index”), their smoking rates, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. Kaiser will then store this “biometric data” and use it to calculate workers’ future bonuses. 

Corporate Big Brother, anyone?

In addition, SEIU-UHW is deploying “Wellness Cops” (what SEIU calls “Wellness Ambassadors”) to 

pressure workers into losing weight, etc. ­

According to the leaked plan, staffers from Kaiser and SEIU-UHW and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions held a secret powwow on July 18 to prepare the upcoming publicity events, which will involve Kaiser’s new CEO Bernard Tyson and Dave Regan.

Interestingly, the staffers -- including SEIU-UHW Communications Director Steve Trossman -- gave specific instructions to deliberately withhold information from labor reporters across the U.S.!

So WTF is a “wellness recess”?

Good question. Apparently, it’s an event where workers are instructed to stop their normal work and instead do exercises for 10 minutes while music blasts in the background.

Of course, most healthcare workers are on their feet all day as they run from patient to patient, clean patients’ rooms, cook and deliver food, staff busy surgical suites and emergency rooms, sterilize equipment, push bins full of laundry through hospital corridors, etc.

The secret publicity plan from Kaiser/SEIU makes for interesting reading.

Tasty especially loves the part where Kaiser's and SEIU's staffers describe how they will "pre-write" fake posts for FaceBook and Twitter in order to give the public the false impression that people are spontaneously expressing support Kaiser/SEIU’s corporate wellness program. By the way, the wellness plan will officially be called “Total Health Incentive Plan.”

Here are some excerpts from the secret plan, which is posted below:

We won’t pitch to labor reporters. We will utilize social media; KP, UHW and LMP facebook pages and handles; we will use social media to build buy-in and create interactivity; we will pre-write some tweets and FB posts…

Once finalized, we need to move FAST and keep this mum to not get scooped. UHW and other Coalition Unions to turn out workers. KP to assist with management support… BUT keep it confidential! Will probably have to be done at last minute to avoid chatter.

The secret plan also identifies “commenters” who will be lined up to offer favorable quotes to reporters... including Oprah’s fitness guru (Bob Green), Kristi Yamaguchi and Tavis Smiley!

Interestingly, at the same time that Kaiser and SEIU are staging fake publicity events to show how workers totally love having their biometric data monitored by their Boss, the people over at WhenWellnessSucks.com have a very different opinion.

Check out their short video below. Tasty hears the fitness guru in the gym suit is actually Steve Trossman!

   Wellness Program Media Plan for Kaiser Permanente, SEIU-UHW and Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, July...