Negotiators frame issues for final session

Wages, workforce development, attendance, partnership, performance improvement

Los Angeles, May 6, 2010 – The third multi-day session of national bargaining concluded today with the Common Issues Committee accepting joint recommendations from the four CIC subgroups, and beginning the process of discussing economics.   The next – and final – bargaining session will take place May 25-27 in Los Angeles. 
“We’re mindful of the 160,000-some people who aren’t here at bargaining but who have a huge stake in what we do. We’re here to represent their interests and represent the possibilities kept alive by the 2005 National Agreement,” said John August, Union Coalition executive director. “We’ve involved a lot of people in the unique process, including people who have not been involved before. We’re here to solve problems and make a difference. That’s what our colleagues back home expect of us.”

The subgroup recommendations made to the CIC in this session reflect significant work by each subgroup to reach consensus on issues that need to be changed, highlighted, or enhanced in the current National Agreement. The subgroups took on the tough questions of partnership: how do we work together to address issues of performance improvement, working conditions, our work environment, and the future of our partnership. 
“These conversations provide us the opportunity to understand each other’s work.  We’ve been able to understand each other’s interests and how this impacts our workplace—achieving truly superior outcomes than are possible in a traditional bargaining process,” said Chuck Columbus, KP’s senior vice president of National Labor Relations. “We are grappling with the hard questions so that we can move toward concrete solutions—reaching consensus and not just compromise.”
During the final 60 minutes of the three-day session, chief negotiators for the unions and management began outlining their respective economic interests.  The next step in the economic process will be discussing common interests, and brainstorming options for addressing the interests.

Economic Interests
Chuck Columbus, senior vice president of National Labor Relations, began by explaining that while health care reform is opening up new markets and will likely provide Kaiser Permanente with new members, there remains uncertainty about the actual environment of the new marketplace.  What is clear is that while more members are likely to enter our system, the organization is likely looking at lower reimbursements as our percentage of members in public programs grows, increased competition and new regulations.
“Now more than ever, the Partnership’s work to create market-leading performance in quality and service is essential,” said Columbus. 
Taking into consideration this new marketplace, management presented three economic interests to the CIC:

1. The on-going need to create value for our members, purchasers and patients through market-leading performance in quality, service and affordability.
2. To achieve growth, KP must be more cognizant than ever of its price position, continually striving towards affordability.
3. KP’s desire to recruit and retain the best people at the right market rate— those who are high performing, engaged and innovative.

Coalition Executive Director John August presented the Union interests.  He said labor’s overarching interest is to “work with Kaiser Permanente to transform health care for the better in this country.”  He emphasized the value proposition of “value equals quality divided by cost,” pointing out that empowered staff have the ability to significantly increase value, through higher quality and lower cost, for KP members and the communities we serve. 
August said that as part of the value proposition, coalition unions have an interest in ensuring a high standard of living for working families – both KP staff and KP members – including strong middle class incomes, fair benefits, and the best possible health care.  Within Kaiser Permanente, the Union Coalition has an interest in providing union members access to programs to develop their skills and education in response to changing workforce demands driven by health care redesign and technology. 
In summary, he said, “We want to transform health care, deliver on the value proposition, protect and improve our standard of living with a reasonable wage increase, and provide access to skill and career development.”

Subgroup recommendations

The recommendations from the subgroups covered only the highest-priority, agreed-upon interests—and were the result of many hours of meetings, brainstorming, caucusing, and discussion.  In addition to driving language in the National Agreement, a substantial amount of their work will shape the Labor Management Partnership during the term of the next contract.

August and Columbus said that the participants in each of the subgroups made a lot of progress and the outcomes were very positive.  The subgroups addressed attendance; labor management partnership priorities; performance improvement and the performance sharing program (PSP); and workforce planning and development. The content of the recommendations will be released when they are finalized as part of a complete, tentative National Agreement that includes economics.  The bargaining schedule calls for the tentative National Agreement to be completed by the end of May, after a final, three-day session May 25-27 in Los Angeles.
“Bargaining has reached a very sensitive stage, and to protect the integrity of the process, and the best interests of our members, we will release details once the package is finalized,” said August. “This gives our union bargaining team the best opportunity to reach a mutually acceptable, positive outcome.”

Perspectives from subgroup union leaders “The work of the attendance subgroup shows that when the parties stay in the room, speak frankly, respect others and listen, good work comes to fruition,” said co-lead Ken Deitz of UNAC/AFSCME.
The Partnership subgroup made a broad range of recommendations to the CIC on what KP and the Coalition, as partners, should focus on over the next several years. “Everybody was heard,” said Walter Allen of OPEIU.  “There were a lot of examples of where we could do better, and a lot of good ideas about how to do better in partnership.”
The Performance Improvement/PSP subgroup put forward recommendations for achieving and sustaining high performance, and strengthening the connection between performance and rewards.  The team co-leads reported to the CIC that a lot of substantive work was completed. They said their work would serve to inform the future work of task groups, design teams, and implementation groups.  “We really came together as a group,” said co-lead Sandy Wohler of the Teamsters, “not just ‘us’ and ‘them.’  We heard management and they heard us, and we got results.”
The fourth subgroup addressed workforce planning and development.  “We recognized the need to provide educational opportunities for our members,” said co-lead Kathy Sackman of UNAC/AFSCME.  “Now we need to finish the economic part with the CIC.”