KPC Bargaining Update

June 28, 2012 The KPC Bargaining Committee met with the Employer at the Kaiser Independence Park facility from 10a to 5p. Besides the committee and Ralph Cornejo, our chief negotiator, seven KPC members other than committee also joined us. These members came from Sherman Terrace and Wateridge psychiatric facilities. We are deeply appreciative of these members who took the entire day to attend, observe, and provide questions. Their insights and input were invaluable. In preparation for presenting a revised benefits and wage proposal to the Employer we had requested an explanation of the tentative agreement (TA) reached between Kaiser and the Coalition. As all of our members know, NUHW had obtained early in the process copies of the Coalition TAs that we annotated, published, and distributed to the membership. The Employer said that it could not offer any explanation until after all the Coalition Unions ratified the Agreement. It appears that UNAC will be done ratifying the Agreement on July 18. With this in mind, the committee decided it would be best to cancel the next bargaining session so that when we met again with the Employer it would be after the July 18 date and therefore would allow for a more productive meeting. We will meet again with the Employer on July 30. The reason we are asking for an explanation of the Coalition TAs really relates to the cap on retiree health. It is clear that the Plan Document will be changed this year to provide for limit on what the Employer will pay for retiree health. How that cap is calculated and how it will impact current retirees and future retirees needs explanation. It is indeed sad that Coalition Unions are apparently telling workers that the reduction in retiree health will never go into effect. It is unconscionable that Union leaders would lie to workers. Those folks who retired years ago are depending on them/us to defend their benefits when they need them most. The Coalition has abandoned them and they have no voice to protest. The committee spent several hours closely reviewing the original Employer Health & Benefit proposal presented to us. We went through it line by line to assess in greater detail points at which the Employer and our proposals meet or remain widely apart. The following issues are some among many in the Employer proposal that cause us concern: The lack of improvement in the Dental Plan The ability of the employer to modify the benefits of the Flex plan at its discretion and at anytime. A built-in three month delay for new hires to receive benefits Part-time workers being required to pay for a portion of their health coverage. Problematic language giving the Employer great latitude in excluding coverage for pre-existing conditions for the disability benefit. 1

Proposed changes in accrual of ETO negatively impacting certain employees and not others Elimination of FMLA for Parental Ieave Needless to say, our absolute objection to the proposed reductions to retiree health

The rest of the bargaining session was taken up with bridging the differences between the employer and our committee in the critical matter of the Professional Practices Committee (PPC) proposal. The PPC would deal with most professional matters including but not limited to staffing, the PSP, Employer sponsored initiatives, etc. However, we remain significantly apart on the matter of what to do if the PPC is unable to resolve an issue. We are proposing arbitration as the final means of resolving issues that the Employer and Union members cannot resolve. We again provided the Employer with several examples where the lack of input from the Chapter membership has resulted in wasting Employer resources, in the provision of inadequate services to patients, and in the implementation of ill- thought out and failed initiatives. The next Meeting of the Bargaining Committee with the Employer is set for Monday, July 30th, at the Watts Counseling and Learning Center. KPC Bargaining Committee