KAISER PROTEST

Several hundred demonstrators marched in front of Kaiser Permanente’s corporate headquarters in Pasadena, protesting recent changes made by the state’s largest HMO provider.

Politicians and union representatives joined angry Kaiser workers in their march and helped present corporate officials with a copy of a petition that has been filed with the California Commissioner of Corporations.

The petition calls for the Department of Corporations, the agency that has oversight responsibility for HMOs, to hold public hearings on Kaiser’s changes in patient care delivery, said Tom O’Connor, a spokesman for the Service Employees International Union Local 399. The union represents 10,000 Kaiser employees.