Members of the Service Employees International Union Local 49 who work at Kaiser Permanente have voted to authorize a strike against the health care company. The local SEIU branch represents about 15,000 health care, janitorial, security and laundry workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington, of whom about 4,500 are Kaiser employees.
The local chapter held a series of strike authorization vote meetings during the past month, along with several picket events at Kaiser facilities in Vancouver and Portland. Members voted “overwhelmingly” to authorize the potential strike, the union said in a Saturday press release.
The union is in the midst of contract negotiations with Kaiser and is seeking a new contract that includes yearly raises and protection from job losses due to outsourcing and automation. The authorization vote does not automatically trigger a strike, but it does authorize the union’s bargaining team to call for one at their discretion.
SEIU Local 49 is part of a coalition of SEIU chapters that collectively represent about 85,000 Kaiser employees. The chapters are collectively threatening to strike later this year.
