Last week and this past weekend a group of OFNHP member leaders attended the Alliance of Healthcare Union’s (AHCU) annual leadership conference in Los Angeles, California. We joined hundreds of other leaders from the 22 local unions that make up the AHCU to discuss and work on “Building Our Future Together,” the official theme of this year’s conference. Our delegation included three of our executive officers, nine bargaining unit chairs and vice chairs, five Alliance Partnership Representatives (APRs) and improvement advisors, and 18 member leaders across all of our Kaiser Permanente bargaining units. We showed up, engaged with our partner unions, and made sure the voice of OFNHP was heard everyday across the conference floor.
The Alliance Leadership Conference (ALC) is an annual opportunity for many parties to gather to celebrate the accomplishments of the Labor Management Partnership (LMP), discuss issues pertinent to the current and future Partnership, and to coordinate overall as members of the AHCU. This year’s conference featured exciting guests in our plenary sessions, panel discussions, and workshops, including:
- The Senior Director of health issues of the AFT, Government Relations Vice Presidents from Kaiser, and a Vice President from The Permanente Federation to speak about the importance of health policy that protects our workplaces and the communities we serve.
- A professor emeritus at the Sloan School of Management at MIT to speak about partnering for artificial intelligence usage that augments the ability of workers to do their work rather than replacing them.
- A question and answer session with Greg Adams, Chair and chief executive officer of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Hospitals.
On the first day of our conference we had representatives from management/KP leadership across all regions join us. We celebrated the many accomplishments of our UBTs, presented amazing examples of problem solving in partnership, and discussed a future where we continue to commit to the framework of our historic Labor Management Partnership. This was also the day where Greg Adams attended for a Q&A co-hosted with Hal Ruddick, the Executive Director of the AHCU. Members posed questions with very palpable and real implications about DEI, protecting our immigrant patients, advocating for partnership and fairness in each of our regions, and equitable pay practices and PSP distributions. This included offering challenging questions that highlighted the disparity between executive salaries and healthcare worker pay, pressing the CEO to be accountable. Alliance members and management representatives engaged in collegial and professional interaction about the quality service we provide to our patients in all of our regions, while also pressing Kaiser leadership to take action on the issues that matter. This included a discussion with Kaiser Vice Presidents of Government Affairs, who discussed the challenging state of healthcare policy under our current administration.
The second and third days took a different tone than the first. As everyone who attended the ALC (and everyone reading this) knows, 2025 is a big year for people who work at Kaiser Permanente. We have a national contract, and many local collective bargaining agreements, to bargain this year. The rest of our time at ALC was spent training leaders in the skills needed to successfully organize, stake hold, and win for our members. Bargaining prep was in full swing and we had our eyes on what it will take to be successful this year. Workshops focusing on building our strength, fortifying our resilience, and effectively moving our members towards collective action filled our time. Many of us built relationships with other leaders from different regions of our Alliance in break out discussions organized by job groups. These discussions centered around issues specific to each group of workers and how we might unify for better contract language and working conditions in the upcoming negotiations. It also included connecting with unit chairs at other locals so more coordination can happen not just within OFNHP, but across the Alliance itself. The more we talk about our issues, the more informed we all are about what type of language serves us best and how we can win it in bargaining.
"I really liked collaborating in small groups in the breakout sessions. It gave me lots of new ideas for improving our own teams, and new ideas really made me feel re-energized," said Brenda Boyle, who were there representing the Tech unit.
The second and third days culminated in invigorating and energizing collective activities. All of the local unions gathered in our colors, with flags and banners raised as we marched and joined our voices in union chants, both classic and reimagined. It was an activity that demonstrates solidarity amongst workers that always occurs on strike lines. It was also symbolic that while we may be 60,000 workers of 22 local unions, we are one Alliance. Our power is undeniable.
"I really appreciated the tone of Hal's speech directed at management (and echoed by leaders of all the Alliance unions): that we are at a fork in the road; that is up to them to decide if they want to proceed in partnership; that we will have a great contract, with or without them! That felt like a BIG shift and much appreciated!" said Dylan West, a leader in the Pro unit.
30 leaders from OFNHP have shown Kaiser and the AHCU that we are ready to fight for a fair contract; because when we fight, we win!