UFCW 324 Communications / News
Long-Time Union Organizer Will Head Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions
May 23, 2006 · Wire Services
John August, a 57-year-old career union organizer and a top executive for several leading labor unions, has been named executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, the labor arm of the highly-regarded Kaiser Permanente Labor Management Partnership. August succeeds Peter S. diCicco, who is retiring after helping guide the partnership for the past 10 years.
The Kaiser Permanente Labor Management Partnership recently concluded negotiations over a new five-year contract covering 86,000 employees of one of the country's largest health care organizations. Kaiser serves plan members in California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Ohio, Georgia and the Washington, DC metro area.
Mr. August brings 30-plus years of experience to his new position. He began his union career as a rank-and-file member and steward with Local 695 of the Teamsters union in Wisconsin. In 1982, he signed on as an organizer with one of the country's most aggressive health care unions, District 1199P in Pennsylvania, where he led scores of successful organizing and negotiating campaigns on behalf of workers in hospitals and nursing homes. Mr. August was elected president of District 1199P in 1988 and brought his union into affiliation with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 1989. He subsequently was elected a national vice president of SEIU.
After serving briefly as an organizing and field services consultant for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), Mr. August in 1994 was named national organizing coordinator for the IBT, where he led successful organizing drives at Overnite Transportation and Continental Airlines. He then served as an organizing consultant for the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) before being appointed deputy director of the Health Systems Division of SEIU in 2001.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions was created in 1997 by 29 local unions representing Kaiser Permanente employees. Just two years later, the Coalition and Kaiser Permanente peacefully reached agreement on a 5-year contract following decades of labor-management conflict. Since that time, the Labor Management Partnership has made operational improvements saving several hundred million dollars a year. Kaiser Permanente has become the only health care organization to exceed state and mandated standards for nurse staffing, with a nurse-patient ratio of 1:4 in most medical/surgical units, significant improvements have been achieved in worker and patient safety, as well as in employee and member satisfaction. Employee grievances have been cut 56 percent.
The Coalition includes local unions of SEIU, AFT, AFSCME, the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW), the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU), the International Federation of Technical and Professional Engineers (IFPTE), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), the Kaiser Permanente Nurse Anesthetists Association, and the United Steelworkers of America (USWA).