HSTA supports Kaiser mental health care workers during lengthy strike

The Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association encourages all members to support the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) strike in response to Kaiser Permanente’s proposed salary and benefits cuts for its mental health care staff. HSTA’s board of directors, made up of member leaders from across the state, approved the union’s position during its general business meeting Saturday.

The strike began Aug. 29 and is now in its fourth month, making it the longest strike of mental health professionals in U.S. history, according to NUHW. There has been little movement even though the National Committee for Quality Assurance downgraded Kaiser’s accreditation status in Hawaiʻi earlier this year, placing it under corrective action for deficiencies in providing accessible mental health care, NUHW says.

Andrea Kumura, a licensed clinical social worker who has worked at Kaiser for 16 years, said, “Our patients regularly have to wait two to three months to get an initial appointment and another two to three months to have a return appointment.

“When patients have long waits, especially with us being out on the picket line, we have a lot of patients who come by (the picket line) who say that they’ve just given up,” Kumura said. “They’ve given up completely on trying to access mental health services.

“The evidence-based treatment for depression and anxiety is weekly appointments, and our patients never get that. They do not get weekly appointments, so basically they stay sicker longer,” she added.

Last week, the State of Hawaiʻi’s Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF), voted unanimously to allow employees under Kaiser plans to appeal to switch providers to the Hawai’i Medical Service Association (HMSA) if they are impacted by Kaiser’s shortage of mental and behavioral health care services.

At that meeting, HSTA members described their inability to receive timely services, and raised concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of Hawaiʻi’s teacher workforce. Kaiser was notably absent from the meeting, raising questions about whether the health care provider is making a good faith effort to provide a fair contract for its employees.

HSTA President Osa Tui, Jr. said, “Mental health is health. We’ve heard from people [whose] family members are suicidal and need these services desperately. And these mental health workers have such a relationship with their patients, and to not be able to access these services for 16 weeks, going on 17, is really unfortunate, especially as we’re going into the holiday season.”

According to the NUHW, Kaiser staffs 53 psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, and chemical dependency counselors to care for Kaiser’s 266,000 members in Hawaiʻi, or roughly one full-time therapist for every 4,600 Kaiser members. Many patients have waited months for initial therapy appointments to address serious issues like depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, panic attacks, and eating disorders.

In the current contract negotiations, Kaiser is proposing to pay Hawaiʻi workers 20 percent less than their counterparts in northern California and eliminate retirement benefits for new hires, which NUHW says will lead to problems attracting and retaining a qualified and ample workforce.

Jay Valdez, a clinical psychologist, said that Kaiser “needs to make the employment package desirable for people, to attract people to come work for us.”

Jennifer Begonia, a licensed marriage and family therapist and certified substance abuse counselor, says she and her colleagues are “struggling” with heavy caseloads and their concerns go unheard.

“We don’t have any bargaining date set right now,” she said. “We’re waiting to hear back from Kaiser for a bargaining date for next week. We’re going into the holidays still with no pay, still with no contract. It’s really sad. Some of my colleagues and I are struggling. We just want to get back to our patients.”

Support the fight for quality mental health care access in Hawaiʻi

Please consider supporting our NUHW brothers and sisters in their fight for quality mental health care! You can:

• Donating to the strike fund. Help NUHW members support their families while they fight for their patients’ needs.
• Share your story. Have you had trouble accessing the mental health care you need from Kaiser? Share your story with NUHW to help them spread the word about those affected by Kaiser’s staffing shortages.
• Join the picket line. Show solidarity with Kaiser employees and supporters as they demand a fair contract.