Kaiser Mental Health Workers Near End of Historic Strike with Tentative Agreement

Kaiser Permanente mental health workers in Southern California have reached a tentative agreement with management after a nearly 200-day strike, with union members set to vote on ratification. The strike, the longest mental health strike in California history, centered on demands for more time for patient care tasks, wage parity, and improved retirement benefits, especially compared to counterparts in Northern California and other Kaiser employees. While union leaders acknowledge some progress, they stress that broader systemic issues in Kaiser’s mental health services persist, with most deficiencies cited by state regulators remaining unaddressed. Two union-backed bills are advancing in the California legislature: one would reimburse patients for out-of-network care, and another would require health systems to report behavioral health worker compensation relative to medical staff. Kaiser maintains that it already pays therapists above market rates and argues that union demands for increased non-patient care time could reduce available clinical appointments. Both sides agree that the agreement, if ratified, would end the open-ended strike and allow workers to return to their jobs immediately.