Kaiser mental health workers avoid strike, reach tentative contract

A strike scheduled for Monday that would have affected about 50 Kaiser Permanente-Fresno mental health workers was called off after clinicians with Kaiser statewide reached a tentative agreement on a three-year contract.

In a news release sent late Sunday night, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, representing about 1,400 Northern California Kaiser workers who alleged the health system is understaffed, said former state Sen. Darrell Steinberg acted as mediator in the agreement.

The union and Kaiser have been in negotiations for nearly five years without an agreement.

Union officials said Kaiser is understaffed and that mental health patients wait too long for an appointment. Kaiser has denied the allegations.

Kimberly Hollingsworth, a Kaiser-Fresno marriage and family therapist and a steward in the Healthcare Workers union, said last week that the strike could have lasted up to a month.

This story was originally published November 16, 2015 at 6:34 AM with the headline "Kaiser mental health workers avoid strike, reach tentative contract."