KP Strike - May 18th - Rough Stuff

Mike & Friends Blog

David Mallon

David Mallon has advanced degrees in clinical social work and psychology. He has worked as a psychiatric social worker at Kaiser for over 12 years.

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May 18th, 2011 2:36 PM

KP Strike - May 18th - Rough Stuff

By David Mallon

Well, Children, I've got some sad news for you all...

Kaiser at LAMC decided to play rough today. This morning, Deborah Grant, the director of nursing at this Kaiser Hospital decided to accompany a group of strike breaking nurses from registry into the hospital. These nurses arrived in two big rented buses but our pickets were waiting for them. At one point there was some rent-a-cops who started to push the picketers out of the way but they were resisted. Then Ms. Grant elbowed her way though and the rent-a-cops pushed harder and some of our members were knocked to the ground. Shame on Kaiser management for being un-civil! We weren't pushing them. They were pushing and shoving and elbowing us. Shame on them!

But the strike went on despite Kaiser management's bad manners. Hundreds of NUHW members have been showing up all day from all over the Southern California region. Therapists, medical social workers, psychiatric nurses, audiologists, speech pathologists, health educators and dieticians from Bakersfield to San Diego, from Ventura to Fontana came in droves to join their nurse colleagues on the picket line at LAMC. The extraordinary turn out came in spite of rain and wind and cold weather. When the sun came out spirits rose higher than ever and the stike actions took on a second wave of energy.

I was going around and talking to people who were wondering why I was wearing a coat and tie. I explained that I was playing the CEO of Kaiser later in some street theatre and that my job was to count and hug all the profits Kaiser has made just this year in the first quarter: Nearly a billion dollars or $1,000,000,000. And despite this Kaiser wants to kill our pensions and shrink health benefits for Kaiser retirees! Gee, Mr. CEO, Really?

Then one of the health educator at the strike told why that is: She relayed the story that in their Kaiser bargaining to get a new contract one of the managers, a big wig at one of the medical centers said: "You guys are living too long and that is why you have to give up your pensions." Wow! Isn't that interesting. We take the THRIVE message of Kaiser to heart and we get punished for thriving! That is a really interesting logic!

Well, got to get back to the rally where I get to do my CEO bit and let everyone know that profits come before patients or their care.

More later!