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Why Thousands of Mental Health Care Employees In California Plan To Go On Strike

After years of lobbying Kaiser Permanente to hire more mental health clinicians to meet growing patient demand, thousands of mental health employees in California will take their fight to the streets during a strike scheduled to kick off next week.

Nearly 2,600 psychologists, therapists, and social workers represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) will picket at 35 locations across the Golden State. Joining them will be 700 members represented by NUHW who don’t work in mental health. Union representatives announced their plans in a letter to Kaiser on New Year’s Eve.

“We feel that we’re overall helping patients and helping these issues by striking,” Jim Clifford, a Kaiser therapist and NUHW member, told ModernHealthcare.com.

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Workers at a Los Angeles Walmart began the first sit-down strike in the company’s history at around 2 p.m. on Thursday. The strike is to protest their low wages and a culture of retaliation at the company. The protestors have been chanting “Stand Up, Live Better! Sit Down, Live Better!” and covering their mouths with tape to symbolize efforts to silence protestors, according to a press release from OurWalmart. Community members are also planning to join the protest later in the evening.

Walmart workers stage first-ever sit-in strike | Follow ThinkProgress

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