{"id":47454,"date":"2026-04-01T11:54:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:54:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47454"},"modified":"2026-04-01T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T18:54:33","slug":"kaiser-permanente-ai-and-the-workers-on-strike-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/kaiser-permanente-ai-and-the-workers-on-strike-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Kaiser Permanente, AI, and the Workers on Strike, Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by\u00a0Cal Winslow<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0March 30, 2026 (BeyondChron.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cKaiser executives say they\u2019re not using AI to make patient care determinations, but they won\u2019t say what technology is underpinning the online questionnaires that automatically determine whether patients require urgent appointments and assess whether they may be a threat to themselves,\u201d said Carolyn Staehle, a behavioral therapist in San Francisco. \u201cWhatever Kaiser wants to call it, it\u2019s not a human being making these potentially life and death decisions, and it\u2019s not the same level of care as being assessed by a licensed therapist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaiser Permanente, the nation\u2019s largest health maintenance organization (HMO) is forcing its therapists onto the streets in the ongoing battle to deny mental health parity with medical in its services to 12 million member \u2013 also now, the challenge of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 2400 striking mental health care workers are members of the National Union of Health Care Workers (NUHW). They walked out on Wednesday, March 18, a \u201cpractice\u201d strike, but most likely a taste of what\u2019s to come. In 2022 these workers struck for ten weeks, the longest mental health care workers\u2019 strike recorded. Two issues dominated negotiations from the start: workload for Kaiser therapists and wait time for Kaiser patients. The strikers won on both, forcing concessions until then all but unheard of. The strikers won break through provisions to retain staff, reduce wait times for patients and a plan to collaborate on transforming Kaiser\u2019s model for providing mental health care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time it\u2019s inevitable the fight will be just as hard fought.  But the NUHW members are battle tested; each contract fight with Kaiser thus far has included a strike. More, this time the NUHW members were joined in a sympathy strike by thousands of registered nurses, who share their concerns about Kaiser\u2019s increasing use of artificial intelligence to the detriment of patient care. This can hardly be over-estimated. Since the 2009 SEIU trusteeship, NUHW has faced a workforce deeply divided. But not so much this time, though thousands of service workers still crossed picket lines. The registered nurses are represented by the National Nurses Association. Stationary Engineers, represented by IUOE, Local 39 also held a sympathy strike with mental health workers, who walked picket lines outside Kaiser medical centers in Oakland, Sacramento, Fresno, Santa Clara and Santa Rosa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to strike alongside registered nurses and engineers in the fight for human-centered care at Kaiser,\u201d said Joshua Gibbons, a therapist for Kaiser in Sacramento. \u201cMental healthcare is about human connection, and Kaiser is recklessly forging ahead with untested artificial intelligence that it sees potentially replacing us and the care we provide our patients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kaiser is determined to rescind past concessions, never mind that in 2023 a $200 million agreement with the California Department of Managed Health Care that it lacks sufficient behavioral health providers.  Last month, Kaiser entered into a $31 million settlement  with the U.S. Department of Labor over violations of mental health parity laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alas in our new world where \u201cbillions\u201d has replaced \u201cmillions.\u201d Kaiser has $67 billion in reserves. Kaiser\u2019s CEO Greg Adams is reported to receive more than $20 million annually. Kaiser must reimburse patients who had to pay out-of-pocket for mental health treatment they couldn\u2019t get from Kaiser. So, fines, no problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKaiser has been punished and fined so many times for mental health violations, we can\u2019t let it get away with more,\u201d says Kaiser therapist Emma Olsen. \u201cOur patients need human therapists, who can work seamlessly with their doctors and have enough time to do our jobs right \u2014 and it\u2019s clear Kaiser doesn\u2019t want to pay for that level of care.\u201d Yet Kaiser wants to add AI to its array of extreme proposals \u2013 it is demanding \u201cflexibility,\u201d meaning all but a free hand in the introduction of AI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The workers have been without a contract since September. The sides remain far apart with Kaiser sticking to proposals that would reverse patient care safeguards previously won by therapists and open the door to replacing therapist jobs with artificial intelligence and further outsourcing care. When it comes to AI, Kaiser is setting the stage to not just replace work done by therapists, but to replace therapists themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is Kaiser doing this?  The behemoth was once known as union friendly.  Workers supported it and were central in its origins and growth. \u201cIt\u2019s a corporation,\u201d says Sal Rosselli, president emeritus of the union. \u201cIt\u2019s the bottom line. Profit and competition.\u201d  Kaiser is a competitor, an empire builder, but this costs money. It spends its surplus on expansion. Kaiser which began in California and stayed there for decades, now has hospitals and clinics in Hawaii, Washington state, Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. It\u2019s like General Motors in the fifties or Amazon today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Healthcare is remaking the US economy.  It\u2019s the nation\u2019s top employer, surpassing manufacturing and service.  In 38 states, the industry is the biggest employer. Manufacturing cities like Cleveland and Pittsburgh have transitioned to healthcare as the driver of their economies. Hospitals are often the largest employers in small towns and rural settings. The industry will continue to grow (it can\u2019t be off shored, not like manufacturing), despite looming cuts in federal health care spending. Healthcare is an engine of the twenty first century economy; its workers are our blue color millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2,400 workers, not so big, then. But its 2,400 in a union that fights, and we need fighters. Their example is incalculable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The National Union of Healthcare Workers is a member-led movement that represents 19,000 healthcare workers in California and Hawaii, including more than 4,700 Kaiser mental health professionals in California.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Matthew Artz<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cal Winslow\u2019s latest book is Radical Seattle, the General Strike of 1919.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by\u00a0Cal Winslow\u00a0on\u00a0March 30, 2026 (BeyondChron.org) \u201cKaiser executives say they\u2019re not using AI to make patient care determinations, but they won\u2019t say what technology is underpinning the online questionnaires that automatically determine whether patients require urgent appointments and assess whether they may be a threat to themselves,\u201d said Carolyn Staehle, a… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47455,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47454\/revisions\/47455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}