Kaiser Workers' Statewide Campaign Star...( Union members to protest...),Health

Union members to protest job cuts outside Sunset, Walnut Creek hospitals

LOS ANGELES and OAKLAND, Calif., Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Thousands of SEIU-UHW members who work for Kaiser Permanente in California will picket outside their work sites for the next five weeks to protest management plans to slash 1,350 of their jobs. The first pickets will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009, outside Kaiser Walnut Creek and Kaiser Sunset Medical Centers.

Two days later, union members will picket from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. outside Kaiser Santa Clara and Kaiser Panorama Medical Centers. Upcoming pickets will be announced at www.seiu-uhw.org/kaiser. Nearly 50,000 SEIU-UHW members work for Kaiser in California, in all healthcare facilities and in a wide range of job classifications. They are protesting Kaiser management's announcement that the company wants to cut more than 1,800 jobs statewide, despite excellent financial performance and the high level of care that Kaiser workers provide to our patients.

"There is no economic justification for job cuts at Kaiser. Management's insistence on sending out notices to individual employees telling them that they want to eliminate their jobs is unnecessary and we urge them to reconsider it," said Paul Barkley, who works at Kaiser Sunset and serves as a union steward. "We have voted overwhelmingly to conduct statewide picketing to stand up for patient care and to protect our jobs."

In mid-August, Kaiser announced its outstanding financial performance for the second quarter. Net income for the quarter was $620 million, almost twice last year's second quarter and far exceeding its own projections. Just days later, Kaiser announced its intention to eliminate 1,350 bargaining unit posi
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