Update on Coordinated Bargaining with the Alliance of Health Care Unions

An Important Message From
Chuck Columbus, Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer

I’m pleased to report that KP and the Alliance of Health Care Unions are moving forward productively toward a new agreement that will enable us to continue to be a great place to work and to receive high-quality, affordable health care.

Approved Recommendations
Two subgroups approved key recommendations in the latest bargaining session.

Operational Effectiveness
This subgroup considered issues such as how to measure performance improvement and encourage innovation and flexibility. Approved recommendations include:

• • Creating a template for a regional financial performance report that labor and management leaders can use to guide conversations at all levels.
  • Designating appropriate LMP sponsorship teams at the regional level to be accountable for staffing, budget, and attendance outcomes.
  • Requiring regions to establish timeframes that encourage prompt decision-making and early engagement of labor, and to use the UBT Tracker — a national database of unit-based team projects — to share and spread best practices.

Commitment to Partnership
This subgroup addressed ways to strengthen and sustain our partnership. Approved recommendations include:

• • Creating a partnership playbook to ensure clear expectations of what labor and management can expect as partners.
  • Having a joint, national learning group recommend where to incorporate LMP concepts, culture, and principles into KP training.

What’s Next
We are working on economic issues in preparation for the next bargaining session, tentatively scheduled for late August. Our goal is to reach agreement on a contract at that session.

UBTs Continue to Make a Difference for Employees and Members
In the meantime, 3,600 unit-based teams across KP continue to bring union-represented employees, managers, and care providers together to focus on improving experiences on behalf of the members, patients, and communities we serve.

Our high-performing UBTs set the standard for quality, service, safety, employee engagement, and continuous improvement. And employees tell us they have more influence over workplace decisions, feel freer to speak up, and see improved organizational performance and working conditions when they are highly involved in their unit-based team.

Thank you!
We look forward to successfully completing coordinated bargaining. We remain committed to partnering with all interested unions in a spirit of trust, mutual respect, and cooperation that enables us all to deliver on our mission today and always.

Thank you for your dedication to KP, each other, and our patients, members, and the communities we serve.