Recent negotiations having failed to produce consensus on wages and benefits, Kaiser Permanente mental health workers are striking for a second straight week at facilities throughout Southern California. Once again, San Diego Medical Center on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard is a major picket location with an initial demonstration on Monday and additional labor action scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The National Union of Healthcare Workers has called this an “open-ended” strike over a wide range of issues from pensions to the amount of time that workers are granted to handle preparation and administrative duties outside direct patient care. There was hope last week that a new round of negotiations Friday would have workers and employees announcing a new four-year contract to start the current week, but that hope was dashed Monday when the union, in a fresh statement, said that the latest offer contained “practically nothing new,” beyond “an additional 25 cents per hour for bilingual workers.” For its part, Kaiser continues to assert that it has been able to continue serving the mental health needs of its members despite so many of its workers on picket lines holding signs. “We reached out to all of our patients with appointments this week, connecting with all but 3% whom did not return calls or texts, providing appointments to everyone who wanted one,” Kaiser said Friday, also complimenting the “hundreds of mental health professionals who are choosing not to walk away from their patients during this strike.” Kaiser says its therapists in Southern California make “on average 18% more than their peers earn in other organizations,” and the current offer would deliver “an additional 18% increase in pay for therapists over the next four years. The union, Kaiser added, is “asking for a 30% wage increase over three years, increasing therapist pay to nearly 40% above market.” But the union, in a “fact sheet” detailing its negotiating position, has a diametric take on wages, stating that the mental health therapists it represents are “making up to 40% less than non-mental health therapists whose jobs require less education and licensing requirements.” The union continues to demand that Kaiser also “restore pensions that it provides to virtually all of its 180,000-member California workforce other than its Southern California mental health caregivers.” Across Southern California, the union represents about 1,570 psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, addiction medicine specialists and case managers. In addition, about 830 psychiatric registered nurses and medical social workers practicing in home care, palliative care and social medicine settings are also part of the strike.