Kaiser Permanente pharmacy workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington state walked off the job Sunday morning.
The group plans to picket from sunrise to sunset over the next three weeks. Picketers including imaging and pharmacy healthcare workers.
Miles Eshaiam, communications coordinator for UFCW Local 555, told KATU this is an unfair labor practice strike.
You have to provide information related to grievances and bargaining itself. You can’t directly deal with members, and you cannot dictate to the union who their representatives should be. Kaiser Permanente needs to deal with these unfair labor practices so we can reach a good agreement," said Eshaia.
Kaiser declined KATU's request for an interview, instead responding with a statement that says in part:
"Until recently, UFCW Local 555 was part of the National Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which has been bargaining at the national level since April. A few weeks ago, UFCW decided to split from the Coalition. They have been unwilling to bargain with us since their decision to leave the Coalition and leave national bargaining. We have urged them to return to the bargaining table and are hoping they will agree to schedule a bargaining session."
KATU brought this statement to the union.
We’ve been available, we are available. We left the coalition because we felt like we could better serve our members by bargaining locally and directly. It’s what we do for every other one of our contracts. We didn’t feel like local member issues were being taken care of at the national level," said Eshaia.
The labor practice strike follows months of negotiations between Kaiser and the union. Eshaia said they're looking to address both wage and staffing concerns.
