© Ariana Bindman

Kaiser workers strike at the Oakland Medical Center to protest the HMO’s “unethical” working conditions on Aug. 16, 2022.  

After a 9-week strike, Kaiser Permanente and the union representing about 2,000 mental health care workers in Northern California announced Tuesday that they reached a tentative agreement.

“The new 4-year agreement will benefit Kaiser Permanente patients and drive collaborative efforts aimed at improving access to mental health care, while at the same time recognizing and better supporting mental health therapists in their important work,” a joint statement from Kaiser and the National Union of Healthcare Workers said.

Union members will participate in a ratification vote over the next few days, Matt Artz, a spokesperson for the union, told SFGATE on the phone. That’s where members of a union democratically determine whether or not to accept the tentative terms of the agreement.

“After that, we can share the details,” Artz said. “We want to give our members a chance to read the agreement before we talk about the terms. There are gains for patients and therapists.”

The union launched the strike Aug. 15, calling on Kaiser to increase staffing and end their patients’ long waits for appointments. The union claimed that patients in Northern California face waits of four to 12 weeks between appointments with Kaiser clinicians, SFGATE reported previously.