| This Labor Day, we took to the streets surrounding Kaiser Hollywood with SEIU United Healthcare Workers (SEIU-UHW) members and fellow Union siblings to call out Kaiser Permanente’s outrageous corporate greed in the face of real people’s needs. Our SEIU union family along with other LA area unions stood united against Kaiser management’s greedy LA County premium hikes, stingy wages, and understaffing issues that impact patient care. |
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| Our day of action began at Barnsdall Park, where we rallied with our members to call out Kaiser’s plans to raise premiums by 14.5% in 2024 despite boasting record profits this year. SEIU 721 President David Green, Vice President Simboa Wright, and LA County Benefits Administration Committee (BAC) member and Executive Board Member Ruby Dye addressed our members and supporters, riling up the crowd before joining with SEIU-UHW members for a combined march. |
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| Together, we danced and chanted, holding signs reading “United Against Kaiser’s Corporate Greed” as we poured into the streets with SEIU-UHW workers demanding safe staffing and livable wages. A chorus of cow bells, drums, whistles, and chants rang out as thousands paraded to the front steps of Kaiser Hollywood, where we heard from labor leaders– including our very own Vice President Simboa Wright– and watched as SEIU-UHW members put their bodies on the line in an inspiring act of civil disobedience. Twenty-three healthcare workers bravely held their ground– holding hands in a circle while blocking Sunset Blvd.– as dozens of LAPD officers descended on the peaceful protest. All twenty-three healthcare workers were arrested and cited for refusing to leave the site of an unlawful assembly. |
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From skyrocketing premium costs to overworking and underpaying healthcare workers, Kaiser is shortchanging workers and failing patients to pad their own pockets.
Kaiser’s record profits– $3.2 BILLION within the first five months of 2023 alone– are a stark reminder that these issues are not the result of insufficient funds.
They are a byproduct of corporate greed, plain and simple. By prioritizing profit over people, Kaiser is choosing to devalue, disrespect, and underpay our healthcare heroes while draining patients dry for substandard care in understaffed facilities. Kaiser is thriving while healthcare workers and patients are barely surviving. We say NO MORE.
Please stay tuned more updates — we’re going to continue fighting Kaiser’s corporate greed.