UFCW Local 7 Lawsuit Against Kaiser Permanente’s Insufficient Staffing Goes to Trial on Monday January 13 in Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2025
CONTACT: Samantha Simpson
ssimpson@ufcw7.com | 303-425-0897 ext. 427
UFCW Local 7 Lawsuit Against Kaiser Permanente’s Insufficient Staffing Goes to Trial on Monday January 13 in Colorado
Denver, CO – On Monday, January 13th, a lawsuit filed by UFCW Local 7 against Kaiser over three years ago will finally go to trial in federal court in Denver. Local 7 represents approximately 1,700 healthcare professionals who work at Kaiser facilities throughout Colorado. At its core, the lawsuit alleges that understaffing by Kaiser at its Colorado facilities threatens the well-being of workers as well as the patients they serve every day. Workers who have devoted their lives to caring for their communities are forced into conditions that threaten their own professional licenses and ability to provide timely and appropriate care. The staffing crisis had already been coming to a boiling point before the COVID-19 pandemic, and only got worse during that time. The lawsuit was initially filed in October of 2021 and was amended in 2022. Despite multiple attempts by Kaiser to block the lawsuit from moving forward, a federal judge issued a ruling last summer ordering the case to go to trial in January of 2025. The trial is scheduled for eight days, beginning January 13 and ending on January 23.
“It is shameful that Kaiser Permanente is understaffing its facilities and that is resulting in harm to the workers and the patients. We tried to address this problem internally with the company, but they refused to work with us to resolve this crisis that is leading to burnout of workers. Many are transferring away from Kaiser or out of the healthcare field altogether,” said Kim Cordova, President of UFCW Local 7.
The crisis of understaffing has not been confined to Colorado. Kaiser operates facilities in geographic markets from the east to wide coast, and Hawaii. A 2023 survey of health care workers from 20 different unions across Kaiser’s workforce showed just how dire the situation had become: more than 90% of members surveyed reported that their departments were understaffed; and, 95% said the Kaiser Permanente staffing crisis was negatively impacting patient care and access. Staggeringly, only 51% of members surveyed said they would recommend Kaiser as a good place to receive care.
Becky Sassaman RN (BSN HNB-BC), UFCW Local 7 Lead RN Union Steward explained, “Healthcare workers chose these professions to take care of patients and our communities, to help those who are sick and going through difficult times, and to promote wellness. We are here to care for people but this incredible amount of understaffing is eroding the health, both physically and mentally, of healthcare workers, and it is not sustainable. Kaiser needed to fix this years ago and focus on providing the needed staffing to take care of our patients. They have not done that and it’s getting worse. This is why we have come to the point of going to court, we are advocating for patients and our healthcare teams. It’s time for Kaiser to wake up and change this dangerous situation.”
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Local 7, the largest Union in Colorado, is affiliated with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union which represents over 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada, and is one of the largest private-sector Unions in North America. UFCW members work in a wide range of industries, including retail food, food processing, agriculture, retail sales, and health care.