Final
Labor Management Partnerships
HEALTH CARE TASK FORCE
Votes:
Action Taken:
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02:08 PM -- Labor Management Partnerships
Donna Lynne introduced herself as the President of Kaiser Permanente Colorado. She distributed a handout entitled "Labor Management Partnership" (Attachment V) and gave a brief background of Kaiser Permanente's history since 1969 when it began in Colorado. Ms. Lynne explained that Kaiser Permanente is both a health plan and a delivery system. In addition, there is a partnership between Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Colorado Permanente Medical Group. She stated that Kaiser Permanente is a not-for-profit health plan and a substantial portion of its staff is unionized. She added that there are about 2,000 employees that are covered by SEIU Local 105 and about 1,300 covered by UFCW Local 7.
Ms. Lynne stated that Kaiser Permanente has taken a novel approach to both the delivery of health care and labor management partnership. She stated that there are 29 unions throughout Kaiser in 8 states, and, in order to make that relationship work, Kaiser created a labor management partnership.
Ms. Lynne stated that retention is a concern, and Kaiser spends a lot of time on training of staff, such as nurses. She added that in order to equip the staff with the skills they need, Kaiser offers internal training, career ladders, and educational opportunities to its employees.
Ms. Lynne stated that as a result of the labor management partnership, satisfaction of employees has gone up, and Kaiser has a turnover rate of 3.5 percent. Ms. Lynne explained that in the most recent bargaining round, they looked at workforce development and creating a fund over the next five years for training programs to continue or enhance employees' careers.
02:15 PM
Mr. Ackerman, President of SEIU Local 105, explained that his union represents 2,000 Kaiser employees in Colorado and 47,000 Kaiser employees throughout the United States. Mr. Ackerman discussed the national agreement between Kaiser Permanente and 83,000 employees represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. He stated that the agreement contains a commitment to workforce development that is completely unprecedented in the health care industry. Mr. Ackerman discussed the unique labor management partnership agreement and employment security agreement negotiated between Kaiser Permanente and its Unions in 1997, with the philosophy to have an engaged workforce that will be the champions and agents of innovation in a rapidly changing industry. He stated that in order to achieve this, the employment security agreement stated that if employees do good work, they will have long term employment at Kaiser Permanente barring a catastrophic event. He added the labor management partnership agreement allowed employees, through their unions, to have a meaningful voice to shape the health care they deliver everyday.
Mr. Ackerman stated that the union members recently concluded a second national collective bargaining agreement with Kaiser that includes a commitment to workforce development. He noted that Kaiser Permanente is unique in its commitment to job security, market leading wages, superior benefits, and a meaningful collective voice in decisions that impact the employees work.
Mr. Ackerman stated that the agreement includes mechanisms for turnover analysis through exit interviews in order to optimize working conditions and retain skilled employees while creating a culture of life-long learning and career advancement opportunities for Kaiser's unionized employees. Mr. Ackerman explained the program is funded by an initial investment of $105 million dollars in the first 3 years of the agreement. He stated the fund provides for: career counselors in every region, trust funds to ensure joint union management decision making, employee access programs during work time, employee access to career mapping, and job pipelines.
Mr. Ackerman concluded his testimony stating that the agreements Kaiser has made with its unions will address Kaiser's workforce needs along with the needs of the community, save millions a year in turnover costs, and improve quality by creating a stable workforce.
02:23 PM
Mr. Duran, President of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7, spoke briefly about the types of health care employees that makeup the union. He stated that the number one job related issue is work load or staffing. Mr. Duran explained that in the contract, Kaiser employees are guaranteed time off and there are mechanisms to ensure that vacancies will be filled when they do.
Senator Keller asked how Kaiser and the unions handle someone whose performance is less than satisfactory. Ms. Lynne explained that the workforce development piece does not relate to that, but the normal disciplinary process does. She stated the contracts do provide for several tiers of review done by a supervisor, human resources, and in the most extreme cases, an actual grievance procedure. Senator Mitchell noted that when there are employee performance issues, it seems there are employee security systems designed to protect employees from being fired for less than adequate reasons, and then there are other systems that make it impossible for employers to fire employees. Senator Mitchell asked where Kaiser fell on that spectrum. Mr. Duran replied that they use an impartial third party arbitrator to make the decision as to whether the employee is terminated or not. Ms. Lynne added that the employee is also given a written plan in order to help the employee improve. She explained that Kaiser does not immediately terminate employees because of all the time and money invested in each employee, rather the first step they take is to try to improve the employee's performance.
Senator Mitchell commented on how happy he and his family have been with Kaiser's services and asked if there was something about Kaiser that made it more or less conducive to the collaboration system they described and how transferable the system would be to other health care arenas. Mr. Ackerman stated that there are other health care companies looking to Kaiser as an example.