KP Kern Main Reaches A Tentative Agreement on their local agreement
News | December 12, 2025
After nearly eight months of negotiations, Kaiser Permanente Kern members reached a tentative agreement on improvements to the Main local contract. While some key issues remain open on the national table, the new tentative agreement includes some key victories.
The new agreement features longevity bonuses at ten, fifteen, twenty, and twenty-five years of service - improving upon the previous agreement which only awarded bonuses at ten or twenty years. The new longevity bonuses will take effect 120 days after the contract is ratified. The differentials are as follows:
10 years - $0.55/hour
15 years - $0.70/hour
20 years - $0.85/hour
25 years - $1.00/hour
In addition, we strengthened Bereavement Leave. Members now have the option to use other paid time for an additional 2 days of bereavement leave, allowing for up to 5 paid days to grieve the loss of a family member.
We defeated a company proposal to impose restrictions on the number of job transfers and members will continue to enjoy the right to transfer as often as they wish.
Bargaining between Kaiser and the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which includes UFCW Local 770, continues in San Diego this week. Priorities including across-the-board increases, contract alignment (meaning the effective expiration dates of Alliance contracts), and bringing pay for Kern members more in line with their counterparts in other locales, remain open.
Kudos to your seven-member rank-and-file negotiating committee and all of the workers in Kern who took action to hold the line throughout this long process and fight for the improvements we all achieved.
While this is a tentative agreement at the Kern Main table only, we are not done. Our work continues until the National Agreement is complete.
In Solidarity,
Your Kaiser Kern Bargaining Committee
