National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) President Sal Rosselli joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about a strike by 2,000 NUHW members who work as mental healthcare professionals at Kaiser Permanente.
According to Rosselli, the workers on strike due to deteriorating work conditions, inadequate staffing and long wait times that the Union claims violate California mental health parity laws.
The Union seeks to force Kaiser Permanente to collaborate with mental health professionals to fix a system they believe is badly broken, he said.
Patients wait between six and 10 weeks for therapy appointments, which violates a California law that prioritizes mental health on the same level as other healthcare, Rosselli said.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about this topic.