Hey, guess what.
The strike due to begin today for all Kaiser Northern California mental health clinics has been called off! My dad emailed the good news from the East Coast before I was even awake. You can read about the developments on the NUHW website.
I’ll be going on an extra long walk with my dog this morning to recover from the excitement of the last week.
Congratulations to all those Kaiser members with mental health and substance abuse challenges, their families and friends, their therapists, and NUHW’s superb staff, who have been working toward moments like this one for the last five years.
There’s still a long way to go, true. But the mountain just inched to the left.
90 Days to Change 
Keep up the good work! You are making a difference. God bless you! janet
That is great news!! Do you know why? Obviously something has changed for the better from a few months ago? Thx for much for this blog. I personally really appreciate you putting yourself out there this way for what you believe in.
I think there are a variety of reasons Kaiser improved their contract offer so the strike was called off. The biggest must be that the union demonstrated a credible threat for an open ended strike. And during that strike, more of the kinds of publicity garnered just prior would be on the way. The KTVU report was a new level of publicity. The presence of Patrick Kennedy at opening day rally was another. Not that bad publicity would be enough. But it helps create the kind of atmosphere that encourages the Department of Managed Health Care to let loose with their fines.