This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
At Highland, it’s no secret that our wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, we’re critically understaffed, and management is making our jobs harder every day.
We depend on our union representatives to bring our concerns to the table and fight for a fair contract. But why are our contract negotiations conducted in secrecy? As union members, we’re not allowed to attend these negotiations, or even to have a transcript of the meetings.
The latest update from the union was that management has rejected 13 of their proposals, but we don’t know what these proposals are. They told us that they’re fighting for a cost-of-living raise, but won’t let us see the actual numbers in their proposal.
We know that business as usual can’t continue, and we’ll be out there on the picket lines, but we ARE the union and we deserve to know what we’re fighting for!
