News release: Colorado - Denver/Boulder

September 19, 2000

For more information, call:
Jacque Murphy Montgomery
Kaiser Permanente
Phone: (303) 344-7410
Pager: (303) 609-5177
E-mail: Jacque.Montgomery@kp.org

Kaiser Permanente and Service Employee International Union Local 105 reach historic agreement

Contract ratified by overwhelming margin

Denver, CO – Kaiser Permanente and members of the Service Employees International Union Local 105 have announced ratification of a new five-year contract. Ninety-eight percent of the local membership approved the agreement.

This agreement puts patients' needs first and is a first in the history of U.S. health care. The contract was worked out in national negotiations involving Kaiser Permanente and 25 unions representing 62,000 employees. Negotiators followed a process called common-issues bargaining, which allows management and labor to collectively identify issues, clarify positions, and together create a contract that assures quality patient care.

Highlights of the new contract include the following:

Wage increases over the life of the five-year contract. In the first year, the wage increase is at least 4.5 percent.
Employees receive full-time benefits for working 20 or more hours per week.
A joint staffing process that allows management and employee participation in resolving staffing issues, including a binding dispute-resolution process. · Health care copayments maintained over the life of the contract.
Improvements on tuition reimbursement and continuing education benefits.
Full-time union liaison position to provide education and training and assists in labor-management committees.

This new contract ensures that more decisions about patient care are made by the caregivers, as close to the patient as possible.

SEIU Local 105 represents nearly 1,600 Kaiser Permanente employees. Kaiser Permanente provides health care coverage to nearly 336,000 members in the Denver/Longmont/Boulder area.