SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — Kaiser Permanente is laying off hundreds of healthcare workers across Northern California.
The layoffs will affects more than 200 healthcare workers at facilities all over Northern California, Union Press Secretary Renée Saldaña confirmed with KRON4 on Friday.
The workers impacted include admitting staff who are often the first line of interaction with patients, patient transport staff who help get patients to the right place for care in Walnut Creek and Antioch, and patient care technicians who provide bedside care in Oakland, among others.
Saldaña called the layoffs “outrageous” and “wholly unacceptable”.
“This is an outrageous and wholly unacceptable act by a corporation that made $6.4 billion in pandemic profits last year,” she said.
It’s unclear when these layoffs will occur or what hospitals will be impacted.
Kaiser released the following statement to KRON4 News:
“Kaiser Permanente is continuing to grow. We continue to be one of the largest private employers in California with more than 149,000 employees and 16,000 physicians in the state. We continue to add jobs, with currently more than 2,300 open staff positions in the state. About 200 positions across the Northern California region are being affected by a staffing reorganization.
In any staff reorganization we are committed to—and highly successful at—working with employees to identify other positions within Kaiser Permanente to transition them into. And if we are unable to do so, we provide benefits to eligible employees that typically include education and training benefits, outplacement services, and up to a year of wages and benefits.
While these changes will represent a very small percentage of our workforce, we do not undertake them lightly and we always consider the support our valued colleagues will need as a result of these decisions.
We consistently look for better ways to achieve operational efficiency, while providing high-quality care and service. To that end, we have identified opportunities to streamline and redesign work processes, reduce duplication, and standardize our processes in order to better serve our patients and members. As part of these efforts, we are changing some of our internal operations and how they are staffed.
The changes will result in the elimination of some positions, primarily non-clinical administrative support positions, and in addition, some staff in temporary, on call and per diem positions that may have been called upon in the past to provide additional staffing will be affected.
We recognize the incredible contribution of all of our staff who have performed admirably especially throughout the past year and we are committed to providing comprehensive and personalized support.
As part of our regular process, we communicated with our Union partners before notifying employees, and union leaders asked us to delay until Monday. At that time, we will begin discussing the process, support, transition opportunities, and benefits with affected staff.”