Letter to Northern California nurses, June 17, 2022
To our valued nurses,
As we kick off our negotiations with the California Nurses Association (CNA) on June 23 for a new labor agreement, our message to you is one of gratitude and respect for the incredible work you do every day, and enthusiasm for the process we are beginning.
We look forward to these negotiations where we can clearly reinforce our commitments to you. Contract negotiations allow us to sit with your union and the nurses bargaining committee and take stock of events that have occurred during the current labor agreement and prepare for trends in patient care, as well as economic and regulatory factors that could impact the care we provide in the future. And as you know well, so much has happened to our world, health care and our teams since this last contract was signed, and our commitment to you is as steadfast as always.
We value CNA’s insights and the experiences of our nurses who are on our front line of care. We are committed to listening and learning during this process. We know we share a passion for providing high quality care, and a desire to create an environment that places high value on the skills, talents, and commitments of our amazing nurses. Like you, we want a workplace where our nurses can be professionally challenged, can grow, be supported, and have the time to step away from the pressures of the job and recharge with friends and family. Like you, we are concerned about the present and future staffing levels and want to find a solution that works today and builds a pipeline for tomorrow. Certainly, pay and benefits ply a big role in attracting talent to Kaiser Permanente and we also know we need to maintain a workplace where our staff are celebrated, valued, respected, and listened to, in order to keep you and others here.
We enter these negotiations recognizing there is no shortage of issues to address together. We are coming out of a period when personal and professional challenges have tested all of us in unprecedented ways. As a company, as a workplace, and in our collaborations with our employees’ unions, we are proud of what we are accomplishing, and know we can always do better. When we listen to each other and work together, we have an amazing track record of success.
We are coming into these negotiations ready to be at our best and committed to reaching an agreement. We are ready to work with your union and bargaining committee to find the best solutions to reach our shared objectives. We look forward to working with CNA and your bargaining committee to position our nurses and our organization for success over the next contract period and beyond. As we move through this promising time, we will provide regular bargaining updates by email and on our website fortherecord.kp.org, which is accessible from any device. We appreciate you and all you do every day.
Sincerely,
Ann Williamson, PhD, RN, NEA-BC Regional Chief Nurse Executive VP Clinical Integration Services, KFHP/H
DuPriest Hill, MSN, RN, Chief of Labor Strategy and Relations Nursing and Clinical Practice, TPMG