CounterPunch.org
Thousands of Northern California Kaiser Permanente mental health clinicians, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), are on strike.
Picketing began early Monday morning in Fresno, Sacramento and San Jose – temperatures there were predicted to reach triple digits by the afternoon. There are also pickets in San Francisco.
The union explained why: “For the past decade, Kaiser psychologists, therapists and social workers have done everything in their power to make Kaiser fix its broken mental health care system. They’ve gone on short- term strikes, filed whistle-blower complaints that resulted in record fines and helped pass new laws aimed at improving access to care. But Kaiser patients are now waiting months just to start therapy and clinicians are leaving in droves because they can’t provide the care their patients need to get better.”
