Bay Area's striking Kaiser workers to decide on new tentative deal

Details: Under the new agreement, Oakland-headquartered Kaiser Permanente will offer across-the-board wage increases totaling 21% over four years and establish a $25/hour minimum wage in California over three years for coalition-represented employees, among other things.

• Both the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions and the company thanked acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su for her involvement in reaching the tentative agreement.
• President Biden also lauded the agreement in a statement highlighting the efficacy of collective bargaining.

Catch up quick: About 75,000 employees at one of the nation's leading nonprofit health care systems went on strike in five states and Washington, D.C., from Oct. 4-6.

• That included roughly 19,000 workers who joined the picket line at Kaiser medical centers across the Bay Area, including San Francisco, San José and Oakland.
• The strike included professionals across fields, including nurses, radiographers, ultrasound sonographers, home health aides and pharmacists.
• The Department of Labor said that Su, who met with Kaiser leaders and the coalition in California, encouraged the parties to "reach a fair contract for critical frontline workers."

State of play: The union coalition was seeking protections against a widespread staffing shortage that it said creates unsafe conditions for patients.

• The staffing levels "can lead to dangerously long wait times, mistaken diagnosis and neglect," the coalition said in an earlier statement.
• It also said it would only accept a "unified" wage across all of Kaiser's regions, which includes eight states and D.C.

Of note: Another potential work stoppage, on the unions' radar from Nov. 1-8, is now likely avoided with a new contract.

What's next: Over 85,000 Kaiser union-represented employees will decide whether to ratify the agreement. That process will kick off Wednesday, the company said.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that radiographers, not radiologists, were included in the strike.