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News release: Colorado - Denver/BoulderAugust 30, 2002 For more information, call: Kaiser Permanente, unions reach accords on eve of Labor Day Denver, CO – Just in time for Labor Day, Kaiser Permanente and United Food and Commercial Worker's Union Local 7 have agreed to a contract extension that gives workers greater voice in the organization's operations and ensures labor peace through 2005. Kaiser Permanente's professional staff represented by UFCW Local 7 voted this week to join the contract negotiated nationally by 26 AFL-CIO unions that represent 62,000 workers throughout the country. The contract lays out a procedure for labor and management to work together toward common goals on issues such as pay, staffing, workplace safety and quality of care and service. There are financial incentives built into the contract to reward workers when organizational goals are met. Fran Sincere, vice president for human resources, said the new contract should be reassuring news for Kaiser Permanente members. "This contract gives us labor peace so that we can spend all of our time and energy caring for patients. Labor and management now have a blueprint to work amicably together toward our common goal: maintaining Kaiser Permanente's leadership in service and quality." About 1,100 professional staff members in the Denver/Boulder area are affected by the new contract. Registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physician assistants will receive 5 percent annual salary increases. Pharmacists, optometrists, nutritionists, medical technologists, behavioral health clinicians, occupational health professionals, speech therapists, physical therapists, dieticians and opticians will receive 4 percent annual increases across the board, with an additional 1 percent of salary set aside for market and equity adjustments for specific job categories. With UFCW Local 7 joining the national agreement, all Colorado staff members represented by unions now are part of the agreement. Service Employees International Union Local 105, which represents nearly 1,800 Denver/Boulder workers, including licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and laboratory technicians, approved the contract in 2000. SEIU Local 105 also negotiated a revision in its contract to address salaries in the last two years of the agreement. As a result, SEIU employees also will have additional 1 percent in salary set aside for market and equity adjustments for specific job categories. "In these tough economic times, we are very glad that Kaiser Permanente is continuing to show strong performance, allowing us to negotiate these strong wages for our members," said Mitch Ackerman, president of SEIU. "The advancement of our labor-management partnership will mean continued improvement in quality of care, work environment and the organization's financial strength." About 70 percent of Kaiser Permanente's staff of 3,900 is represented by the two unions. The organization's 600 physicians are not represented by a union. Kaiser Permanente is a nonprofit health care organization that cares for 417,000 members in the six-county Denver metro area and in Colorado Springs. In the Denver metro area, care is provided by a coordinated team of staff and physicians. In Colorado Springs, Kaiser Permanente cares for its members through an affiliated network of community-based physicians and other health care providers. SEUI Local 105 is Colorado's largest health care union, representing 2,300 health care employees and approximately 5,000 total workers in metro Denver. UFCW Local 7 represents nearly 18,000 workers in the health care, retail food, meat, barber, and cosmetology industries.
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