Kaiser Employees Win 11-16% Pay Raises Over Next 3 Years

The Kaiser Permanente health care organization reached a labor agreement with representatives of 2,300 office and professional employees working in San Diego County, who voted to ratify a new three-year contract for wage increases ranging from 11% to 16% over the next three years.

An existing three-year contract expired Sunday, Kaiser Permanente spokesman Jim McBride said, and employees approved the new contract in a vote Saturday.

Service and maintenance workers, clerical, technical and patient care providers such as licensed vocational nurses are represented by Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 30. McBride said negotiation meetings between Local 30 and Kaiser Permanente have been held since May.

“We’re very pleased with this contract. Both sides worked hard to stay on schedule and work through the issues until we reached an agreement,” said Gordon Hill, chief negotiator for Kaiser Permanente. “It is a generous contract because our employees deserve to be treated well. They apparently also feel it’s a good contract.”

Gwen Newton, secretary-treasurer and business manager for Local 30, said 787 employees voted--736 in favor of the contract and 51 opposed.

“An overwhelming majority of people who attended and voted were very pleased with the new collective agreement,” Newton said.

Additional terms of the agreement included improvements in wages based on longevity with the firm, as well as shift and bilingual differentials, McBride said. That means those working night shifts and those who have bilingual abilities will receive across-the-board increases in wages, Newton said.

The new contract also guaranteed wages in the second and third year of the contract to be at least 4% above the community average for employment at similar hospitals, McBride said.