Management withdraws Pharmacy layoff notices after pickets, bargaining
Oakland - SEIU-UHW members who work for Kaiser Permanente have forged an agreement with management that protects the jobs of 150 Pharmacy workers targeted for layoffs in Northern California.
"This new agreement means that not one Pharmacy worker will lose her or his job," said Cinnamon Amenes, who works at Kaiser Vallejo and served on the SEIU-UHW bargaining team. "We hope that this is the first in a series of agreements that take all layoffs off the table."
A 15-member SEIU-UHW bargaining team reached the comprehensive agreement with Kaiser management last week. It requires management and the union to agree jointly on the need for any changes in how the 1,100 Pharmacy workers in Northern California are deployed. Management also agreed to withdraw the 150 layoff notices it had sent to Pharmacy workers. The agreement will now be put to a ratification vote among the affected Pharmacy members.
This new agreement is a response to pickets that SEIU-UHW members across California have been conducting to protest Kaiser's plans to cut more than 1,300 jobs. During the past five-weeks, more than 5,000 union members have attended 14 pickets in the statewide campaign. Five more pickets are taking place this week, including today in Orange County, Wednesday in Sacramento, and three more sites on Thursday - Santa Rosa, Fresno and a second Orange County location.
Contact: Pete Janhunen, 510/502-2457, media@seiu-uhw.org
SEIU United Healthcare Workers-West (SEIU-UHW) is the largest hospital and healthcare union in the western United States with more than 150,000 members. We unite every type of healthcare worker with a mission to achieve high-quality healthcare for all. SEIU-UHW is part of the 2.1 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the nation's fastest-growing union. Learn more at www.seiu-uhw.org.
Source: SEIU-UHW