Kaiser healthcare workers voted to authorize a strike - time to organize a walk-out?

[youRCC]

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More Than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente Workers Just Announced They’ll Strike This Month

As the title and news article states, Kaiser healthcare workers voted to authorize a strike in 10 days, so that would be on 11/15. This got me thinking: why not start spreading the sentiment though out all healthcare professions? I think this would be a great opportunity ride off the back of this news/strike. Even if Kaiser caves in before the deadline, the spotlight would still be on healthcare workers. The Accidental Pharmacist made a post recently expressing his take on the current situation of retail pharmacy, and calling for a walk-out on 12/20. With articles starting to come out on pharmacists having heart attacks (and dying!), December is too far, too late. It's time to start spreading the word NOW.

 

[letsquitpharm]

As far as I know, Kaiser probably pays some of the highest pharmacist salaries in the entire country, or might even in the entire world. Strike for what? If they don't want the jobs, just quit, and I will be 100% sure there will be hundreds of warm bodies waiting in queue to get each vacant position there.

 

[youRCC]

Strike for what?

Did you even read the article?

As far as I know, Kaiser probably pays some of the highest pharmacist salaries in the entire country, or might even in the entire world. If they don't want the jobs, just quit, and I will be 100% sure there will be hundreds of warm bodies waiting in queue to get each vacant position there.

That's not how unions work, not at all...

 

[letsquitpharm]

Did you even read the article?


That's not how unions work, not at all...

Unions only protect the exclusive club pharmacists' interests there. As a former retail pharmacist, I would love to see those unsatisfied with Kaiser just quit and leave those opportunities open for other people who actually want jobs in Kaiser.

 

[owlegrad]

As far as I know, Kaiser probably pays some of the highest pharmacist salaries in the entire country, or might even in the entire world. Strike for what? If they don't want the jobs, just quit, and I will be 100% sure there will be hundreds of warm bodies waiting in queue to get each vacant position there.

I wonder why the pharmacists are so highly paid. Maybe it’s because they are so willing to strike.

 

[letsquitpharm]

I wonder why the pharmacists are so highly paid. Maybe it’s because they are so willing to strike.

For an exclusive elite club, unions can always strike to gain an upper hand in negotiations, but will it work for the other 99.9% pharmacists? I don't think so...remember the auto industry union workers in Detroit used to make 100k+ on the assembly line?

However the top 0.1% make their money is totally irrelevant to the masses. The mean and median won't change. Just like how the dean of my school insisted "pharmacists are in demand" and makes over 200k a year saying so. From his perspective, he's 100% right, but from students perspective, what he said is just criminal. It doesn't change the system in place or improve the profession for one bit.

 

[owlegrad]

For an exclusive elite club, unions can always strike to gain an upper hand in negotiations, but will it work for the other 99.9% pharmacists? I don't think so...remember the auto industry union workers in Detroit used to make 100k+ on the assembly line?

However the top 0.1% make their money is totally irrelevant to the masses. The mean and median won't change. Just like how the dean of my school insisted "pharmacists are in demand" and makes over 200k a year saying so. From his perspective, he's 100% right, but from students perspective, what he said is just criminal. It doesn't change the system in place or improve the profession for one bit.

You are right, we shouldn’t even try.

 

[lord999]

The 1990s Chicago pharmacists would beg to differ. You all owe your higher relative salaries in healthcare compared with international proportions due to them organizing and striking over work conditions even more than salary issues.

 

[VA77]

I don't know anyone that works for KP but I will support our brothers and sisters in their fight. SEIU needs to get that national community pharmacy union.

 

[letsquitpharm]

You are right, we shouldn’t even try.

That's why I quit pharmacy & switched to tech and don't regret it one bit. The talk of union & strikes stuff has been around far too long, even before I was a naive P1. Now more than 7 years have passed since then. How long should the "trying" be? What's the deadline for it? Will that ever happen before I retire in 30 years lol?

There's never any talk of software engineers advocating for unions & strikes at all, yet tech salaries rise year after year, greatly outpacing the inflation rate, and stocks prices grew exponentially. Unions & strikes are nothing more than helpless and desperate moves. They are not symbols of strength, but weakness and lack of bargaining power & individual value. The last thing I ever wanted to do, is to devalue myself and have to strike & threaten my employer for fair compensation. That's really pathetic tbh, at least that's how I see it.

 

[BenJammin]

Pharmacists don't have the courage to strike nor will they unionize. For those who actually do, you need to push the great resignation on your colleagues. Push hard. If they complain about work then tell them to quit. No two week notice. Just quit. There's a chain district in Fort Worth that is short 22 pharmacists. Those who are still working have so much leverage! All they need to do is weed out the ones who won't strike and get them to leave.

 

[TheBlaah]

There's never any talk of software engineers advocating for unions & strikes at all, yet tech salaries rise year after year, greatly outpacing the inflation rate, and stocks prices grew exponentially. Unions & strikes are nothing more than helpless and desperate moves. They are not symbols of strength, but weakness and lack of bargaining power & individual value. The last thing I ever wanted to do, is to devalue myself and have to strike & threaten my employer for fair compensation. That's really pathetic tbh, at least that's how I see it.

Didn't Riot Games, Blizzard, and Netflix recently go through strikes? I also believe Google employees formed a union as well.

Guess those employees must be weak and pathetic with little bargaining power.

 

[letsquitpharm]

Didn't Riot Games, Blizzard, and Netflix recently go through strikes? I also believe Google employees formed a union as well.

Guess those employees must be weak and pathetic with little bargaining power.

Yup, those tech workers who have to rely on unions to fight for wage increase should really retire tbh. In the tech world, each promotion or company switch equates to >=20% salary increase. If they can't do that every 2-3 years, it seems to me that they really are NOT wanted in the hot job market at all.

FYI, Google union only has ~800 members (FTE and contractors, which also include cafeteria chefs, janitors and bus drivers) for a company of over 130k full time employees, so that's ~0.5% of their work force lol.

AND Netflix strike wasn't even for workers compensation cause, so what's your argument?

Game studios are notorious for high stress, low pay, easy entry. Only the young guns are attracted to their "coolness". Their turnover is so high that they are always hiring, and every cs undergrad can intern with them if they have nowhere to go. Why can't disgruntled pharmacists do the same thing to create such a high turnover, and demand lol?

 

[lord999]

Yup, those tech workers who have to rely on unions to fight for wage increase should really retire tbh. In the tech world, each promotion or company switch equates to >=20% salary increase. If they can't do that every 2-3 years, it seems to me that they really are NOT wanted in the hot job market at all.

FYI, Google union only has ~800 members (FTE and contractors, which also include cafeteria chefs, janitors and bus drivers) for a company of over 130k full time employees, so that's ~0.5% of their work force lol.

AND Netflix strike wasn't even for workers compensation cause, so what's your argument?

Game studios are notorious for high stress, low pay, easy entry. Only the young guns are attracted to their "coolness". Their turnover is so high that they are always hiring, and every cs undergrad can intern with them if they have nowhere to go. Why can't disgruntled pharmacists do the same thing to create such a high turnover, and demand lol?

Pharmacists were in that position when I graduated. Then we got lazy with our labor relations (particularly the younger who did not build a sufficient warchest) and down goes the negotiation power. The government is the only place where there is an enduring labor movement due to poor management relations (as well as MN in general due to MN having spectacularly bad MHA's from Carlson).

Also, no, there's a limit to job movement in tech where you do hit a developer's ceiling (roughly $280-$320k). Quite a number of Amazon and Google employees who are union know they have too much invested to leave, but not so invested as not to form a union.

Wait till you hit 45-50, and then you'll understand why tech has the same problems as dental hygienists in terms of career longevity. I hire them for peanuts all the time, and they like it.

 

[letsquitpharm]

Also, no, there's a limit to job movement in tech where you do hit a developer's ceiling (roughly $280-$320k). Quite a number of Amazon and Google employees who are union know they have too much invested to leave, but not so invested as not to form a union.

Not quite. There are always pre-IPO unicorns and other big names to consider. Think Uber, Airbnb, Roku, Tesla over the years. I am sure new ones will always join this elite club in future. When SDEs hit L5 at Google, half of their income is vested in stocks. Since most major tech companies stock value are always in this perpetual growth phase, a lot of them actually make far beyond 320k, especially if they have been with the company 5+ years. Also think about their passive income stream options when they make that much money, it is not uncommon to make half a million per year as a senior software engineer in tech.

 

[letsquitpharm]

Wait till you hit 45-50, and then you'll understand why tech has the same problems as dental hygienists in terms of career longevity. I hire them for peanuts all the time, and they like it.

When I hit 45-50, if I do hit plateau in tech, maybe it's time to consider moving back to biotech lol. There might be a slight pay cut, but the work life balance is always great. The biggest names in pharma/biotech can only attract second tier cs talent at their best. As far as I have witnessed, ageism isn't quite a thing in the old men's industry yet. I was around 30 yo, and I turned out to be youngest person in the whole department. Many new hires were in 40-50 age bracket.

 

[Dred Pirate]

The 1990s Chicago pharmacists would beg to differ. You all owe your higher relative salaries in healthcare compared with international proportions due to them organizing and striking over work conditions even more than salary issues.

yup - but they cave in the 2000's.

We are finally getting to a point where the power is shifting to the employee (albeit less so for pharmacists) - use this a chance to set the stage for the future. And anyone who crosses that line is just hurting everyone and our profession. Don't be jealous as those pharmacists that get more because they are willing to give up more in a strike. Unfortunately many unemployed new grads will be lining up to cross the line. But employers are starting to see the quanity vs quality issue - I know we are - we have several open positions and struggling to find people qualified.

 

[Xenophylia]

Ultimately the only thing that will save pharmacy- assuming it CAN be saved at all- is for people to stop enrolling in the greedy pharmacy academic programs. Then the schools close their programs. Over time pharmacists become scarce again and the chains have to either compete for us or find a way to do business with less of us (their preferred method). It could happen again, but it will take many years for the cycle to be in our favor. And if the chains ever succeed in cutting us out of the equation by letting techs rule the pharmacy then we 're doomed. But it could happen.

 

[rph3664]

I saw on Reddit that a staffing agency will offer scabs $150/hr.

Gee whiz, that sounds great, doesn't it, but at what other costs?

 

[Sunshine98*]

I saw on Reddit that a staffing agency will offer scabs $150/hr.

Gee whiz, that sounds great, doesn't it, but at what other costs?

your sanity...