Thousands Of Kaiser Mental Health Employees To Strike

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) - Thousands of mental health clinicians are set to walk off the job at Kaiser Permanente locations across the state.

As many as 4,000 workers are expected to go on a five-day strike. They plan to walk out at Kaiser locations in Sacramento and up to 100 other locations. Employees say the company's mental health clinics are severely understaffed, with some clinicians being made to work after hours in order to serve its patients.

The union had called for the strike to happen last month but postponed it when the company CEO Bernard Tyson unexpectedly died in November.

Gregory Adams has been officially named as the health care giant's CEO. Adams had served as interim CEO following Tyson's death.

Kaiser Permanente released this statement regarding the planned strikes writing in part, "We apologize for any inconvenience caused by this unnecessary strike...We believe that NUHW's repeated call for short strikes is disruptive to patient access, operational care and service and is frankly irresponsible."