By Dave Crone RT steward SMC
Kaiser Respiratory Therapists (RTs) have been speaking up about woefully lagging wages for years. Despite a sit-in and march on the boss and after weeks of silence we were told KPNW, “does not have an interest in negotiating an adjustment to Respiratory Therapist wage scales,” according to VP of HR, Todd Lindamood.
While Mr. Lindamood claims to appreciate Respiratory Therapists’ passion and dedication to members and Kaiser Permanente, inaction speaks louder than words. Appreciation would look like a respectful partnership, timely responses, working together in good faith, and offering solutions.
Because KP has not kept pace with the fair and competitive wages paid by other health systems to attract and retain experienced, highly skilled RTs, KP Respiratory Therapists are taking their skills elsewhere. Critically ill KP members won’t benefit from their expertise and skill during their time of greatest need.
KP management has weaponized bureaucracy and made it blatantly clear that they have no interest in having a good-faith discussion or using the methods within the Labor Management Partnership (LM) framework to solve this root-cause problem. Our interest remains in caring for the KP members in our community and earning a fair, competitive wage that is comparable to other cities with the same cost of living.
Our OFNHP members have spoken that they agree to support RT! We kicked off a button action campaign last week where our members and the community could follow a QR code on our buttons to send an email to Todd Lindamood and Lionel Sims VP of LMP National. Therapists got nearly 4,000 signatures in the first week alone. This breaks an OFNHP record!
The Labor Management Partnership guides us to, “put the member and patient at the center of everything we do,” and focus on affordability, quality, service, and being the best place to work. We’ve shown that uncompetitively low RT wages can impact each of the four core values, as well as our members and patients. Stay tuned on how you can join in more solidarity actions as we continue to fight for fair wages and patient care!