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The Pasadena demonstration, coordinated with a similar rally in Oakland, highlighted tensions between Kaiser Permanente and its mental health professionals represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. Kaiser
Permanente increased security measures at both locations in response to the demonstrations.
“We’re tired of the working conditions that Kaiser’s providing for us,” said Marisela Calvillo, a licensed clinical social worker who led the demonstration. “The way that the mental health system is within Kaiser is very unethical and negligent.”
Calvillo said she was seeing patients every 30 minutes without breaks while struggling to complete required documentation during lunch periods. She said therapists are given approximately two minutes per patient for administrative tasks, affecting her caseload of 86 patients.
The healthcare provider claims it has invested more than $1 billion since 2020 to expand mental health capabilities in California and has increased its licensed mental health clinician workforce by 30% in Southern California over the past four years.
Despite a national shortage of therapists, Kaiser Permanente reports growing its California licensed mental health clinician workforce by 22% since 2020.
The company maintains the strike is unnecessary, stating they have offered an 18% wage increase over four years and that its Southern California therapists already currently earn 18% more than their peers at other organizations.
The company notes its benefits package includes “health care coverage that costs virtually nothing with no deductibles and low co-pays, a generous retirement savings plan, and funds to cover medical costs after they retire.”
Union representatives say negotiations have stalled, with no bargaining sessions scheduled for the past three weeks.
“We’re just kind of waiting for Kaiser to make that decision to meet with us, and really come up with a fair contract,” Calvillo said.
The union filed a new complaint on November 15, alleging unsafe staffing levels among medical social workers, particularly in hospice care services. The complaint states that since National Union of Healthcare Workers members at Kaiser’s Southern California hospice agencies began the strike on October 21, 2024, “Kaiser has failed to adequately backfill the striking hospice staff.”
Kaiser Permanente counters that the National Union of Healthcare Workers is “slow-walking negotiations and creating theatrical disruptions,” while seeking a 28% wage increase over three years, which the company says would push therapist pay to nearly 40% above market rates.
The company argues that union proposals could result in full-time therapists spending up to 40% or more of their work week not seeing patients.
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