No Security for Kaiser Officers
Non-union security officers with no sick days, low pay, unaffordable healthcare protecting most Kaiser facilities
At the heart of Kaiser Permanente, a nationwide healthcare leader, there are 1,800 security officers who protect the majority of Kaiser employees and patients. Unfortunately, these officers struggle to get by with low pay, no affordable family healthcare, no sick days, and no voice on the job.
They work for Kaiser contractor Inter-Con Security, and they are among the only workers at Kaiser—either in-house or contracted—who don’t have a union.
After nearly three years of struggle with both Inter-Con and Kaiser to try and form a union, security officers have now gone on strike against Inter-Con twice in California over unfair labor practices. Inter-Con has repeatedly violated these workers' civil rights by threatening, harassing, intimidating, and interrogating them.
Inter-Con officers work for poverty wages, many making as little as $9-10/hour while at Kaiser. Many Inter-Con officers cannot afford the family healthcare coverage and do not have paid sick days. By comparison, the lowest-paid Kaiser union workers in California earn at least $11/hour, have individual and family healthcare, and accrue paid sick leave.
A recent survey conducted by SEIU of Inter-Con officers also revealed that 41% of officers who responded said they cannot afford the family health insurance plan.
But Kaiser has already proved that they can do better for security officers. In Oregon, Kaiser security officers are members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU). Those security officers make a minimum of $15/hour, are eligible for healthcare if they work just 20 hours a week, have free family healthcare, guaranteed raises, a pension plan, paid sick leave, and much more.
If Kaiser can allow security officers in Oregon—and all other Kaiser employees—to have a union, then they can help Inter-Con officers win the same. Kaiser employs Inter-Con, and Kaiser has the power to make a difference for these officers.
Now you can help take a stand for these security officers.
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Talking Points
Some additional thoughts for your letter...
Are you a Kaiser employee? How does it feel to know that you are working side-by-side with security officers who can't get help if they are sick? Who make such low pay that they can barely afford to by the gas to go back and forth to work?
Are you a Kaiser member? Tell Kaiser! As a patient, you are a client of Kaiser's--and your opinion on this matter counts.
Many officers don't have healthcare, or can't afford the family healthcare. They don't have paid sick days. Yet they work in hospital lobbies, emergency rooms, and medical office buildings, exposed to illness every day.
