Kaiser Permanente Washington and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract.
The four-year agreement, reached Oct. 30, covers about 3,000 workers at 36 Kaiser facilities across Washington state, a union representative said.
Union members voted to authorize a strike on Nov. 1 unless an agreement was reached by midnight on Oct. 31. The tentative deal averts the scheduled strike. Now, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW will join 11 local union members of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions in the U.S. in voting on contract ratification, according to a joint news release shared with Becker's.
Kaiser and the labor coalition, of which SEIU Healthcare 1199NW is a member, reached a tentative four-year contract Oct. 13 after local union members of the coalition staged a strike involving tens of thousands of workers in multiple states.
After the coalition reached a tentative deal with Kaiser on Oct. 13, negotiations continued for a separate contract for the roughly 3,000 Kaiser Washington workers.
Kaiser Washington and SEIU Healthcare 1199NW said voting begins Nov. 1 on the tentative labor contract reached Oct. 30, and details of the agreement will be made available after the ratification vote is complete. If approved, the agreement will take effect Nov. 1.