Almost more than 4,000 psychologists, and other medical professionals, who were set to strike, had postponed their strike against the health care provider Kaiser Permanente indefinitely following the death of CEO Bernard Tyson on Sunday.
From Monday to Friday, the National Union of Healthcare Workers was set to strike, to demand Kaiser Permanente improve the retirement and health benefits, as well as look at clinicians’ proposals to improve the access to mental health care services.
“We offer our condolences to Bernard’s family, friends and colleagues,” NUHW President Sal Rosselli said in a statement. “Our members dedicate their lives to helping people through tragedy and trauma, and they understood that a strike would not be appropriate during this period of mourning and reflection.”
On Sunday afternoon, almost one hundred seventy union leaders voted to postpone the strike that would have shuttered the mental health services at roughly 100 Kaiser Permanente clinics and medical facilities across California.
Tyson, who died in his sleep on early Sunday morning and he was 60.
“I’ve known Bernard since he was a manager at Kaiser Oakland Medical Center in the early 1980s,” Rosselli said. “While we had our differences, I had tremendous respect for him and his willingness to collaborate with workers to make Kaiser the model provider of medical services in California. We weren’t able to achieve that same level of collaboration when it comes to Kaiser’s mental health services, but I believed that he did want Kaiser to achieve real parity for mental health care, and I know our members remain fully committed to realizing that goal.”
