--- title: "Kaiser put labor inside its AI decisions, then filed 147 back-office cuts" description: "The first comprehensive AI agreement between a major US healthcare employer and its unions gives 62,000 workers a standing role in how AI is chosen, designed and taught. Seven days before MIT Sloan published the playbook, Kaiser filed notice cutting 147 back-office jobs." publisher: "The Inference" section: "Policy & Labor" published: 2026-09-30T19:35:43.750Z modified: 2026-09-30T19:35:43.750Z canonical: https://theinference.org/article/kaiser-put-labor-inside-its-ai-decisions-then-filed-147-back-office-cuts language: en keywords: "Labor Unions, Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare, Layoffs, Collective Bargaining" --- # Kaiser put labor inside its AI decisions, then filed 147 back-office cuts > The first comprehensive AI agreement between a major US healthcare employer and its unions gives 62,000 workers a standing role in how AI is chosen, designed and taught. Seven days before MIT Sloan published the playbook, Kaiser filed notice cutting 147 back-office jobs. ## The playbook and the cuts landed seven days apart Seven days before MIT Sloan published [the first full account of the 2025 agreement](https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/what-employers-can-learn-kaiser-permanentes-ai-labor-deal) between [Kaiser Permanente](https://theinference.org/markets/companies/kaiser-permanente) and the Alliance of Health Care Unions, covering 62,000 nurses, technicians and support workers, Kaiser filed notice to cut 147 business and administrative jobs across 16 California locations, effective 20 November. [1] [3] The account, by MIT Sloan's Kochan and Kelly with San Francisco State's Minster, calls it the first comprehensive agreement by a major US healthcare employer to put worker input into every stage of AI decision-making, from identifying problems to designing tools and training employees. [1] ## What labor's five seats cost an employer The machinery is the price. A 10-member AI Task Force, five seats labor and five Kaiser, holds direct decision-making authority over technology investments; more than 3,500 unit-based teams get innovation training; peer advisers coach colleagues through each rollout. [1] Equal seats on a body with that authority mean, in practice, neither side moves without the other. A vendor selling AI into Kaiser now clears a committee where labor holds half the votes. [1] ## The deal prices process, not headcount The agreement governs how AI is selected, designed and taught. [1] The filings cut 72 positions at regional administrative offices in San Diego, 22 at Pleasanton's IT campus and 20 at Pasadena's administrative offices, on top of [216 layoffs disclosed in October 2025](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/kaiser-permanente-to-lay-off-147-workers-across-california/), primarily IT and food services. [3] [4] Nothing in the filings ties the cuts to AI; Kaiser frames them as affordability, with severance and outplacement attached. [3] [4] The template prices how AI arrives, not who stays after it lands. *Chart: **Nearly half the eliminated jobs sit in one San Diego administrative office** Bar chart of the 147 Kaiser Permanente positions eliminated in California by location: San Diego administrative offices 72, Pleasanton IT campus 22, other 11 locations 21, Pasadena administrative offices 20, Oakland headquarters 11, and a second Oakland facility with 1.* *Positions per site from Kaiser Permanente's California layoff filings dated 21 September 2026, effective 20 November 2026. Business and administrative roles, no direct patient care; 'Other 11 locations' is the computed balance of the 16 filed sites. Sources: Becker's Hospital Review; KRON4. [3][4]* ## The playbook is spreading UNITE HERE's version, won in 2018 hotel contracts covering nearly 100,000 workers, requires up to six months' notice before new technology and bargaining before it deploys, with severance and recall when jobs go; coverage has climbed from about a quarter of members in 2019 to roughly two-thirds today. [6] SAG-AFTRA's 2026 deal, [ratified by 91.4% of voters](https://www.redsharknews.com/sag-aftra-ai-deal-synthetic-actors-2026), makes producers show "significant additional value" before a synthetic performer replaces an actor, and bars strikes over AI until 2030. [8] The Writers Guild won written notice when scripts are licensed to train commercial AI systems, but no pay. [8] [9] ## What Kaiser got for it Kaiser paid for its partnership: 21.5% across-the-board raises over four years, about 30% average wage growth, after nearly 11 months of bargaining and two Hawaii strikes. [5] The 147 jobs equal 0.08% of its roughly 180,000 California employees, inside a sector consolidating back-office roles everywhere. [2] [3] The [UNITE HERE report](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/unite-here-report-shows-workers-can-take-on-tech-giants-and-win/) makes labor's case outright: win the power to shape technology rather than fight a losing battle to stop it. [6] ## The tell Watch the task force's [first published review of a technology investment](https://theinference.org/article/axon-s-15-million-renewal-included-36-ai-cameras-nobody-ordered-chattanooga-said-review-first). [1] Then watch Wynn Resorts' Encore Boston Harbor, where [1,300 casino workers walked out on 4 September](https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2026-09-04/encore-boston-harbor-casino-workers-go-on-strike-as-contract-negotiations-stall) over wages, benefits and minimum hours; no AI clause appears in that fight, on the record. [7] ## Takeaway Kaiser's 2025 agreement gives union labor half the votes on an AI task force with real spending authority, the first such deal at a major US healthcare employer. But its first California cuts since then, 147 back-office jobs, arrived seven days before MIT Sloan published the playbook, and nothing ties them to AI. The template prices how AI arrives, not who stays. ## Sources 1. [MIT Sloan Ideas Made to Matter, "What employers can learn from Kaiser Permanente's AI labor deal," 28 September 2026](https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/what-employers-can-learn-kaiser-permanentes-ai-labor-deal) 2. [Healthcare Technology News, "Kaiser Permanente to Cut 147 Jobs Across California," 26 September 2026](https://healthcaretech.news/hospitals/kaiser-permanente-california-layoffs-147-workers) 3. [Becker's Hospital Review, "Kaiser to lay off 147 workers across California," 25 September 2026](https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/kaiser-permanente-to-lay-off-147-workers-across-california/) 4. [KRON4, "Kaiser layoffs to impact nearly 150 workers across California," 28 September 2026](https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/kaiser-layoffs-to-impact-nearly-150-workers-across-california/) 5. [Honolulu Star-Advertiser via Yahoo News, "Kaiser says contracts with all Alliance union members ratified," 17 April 2026](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/kaiser-says-contracts-alliance-union-034900514.html) 6. [People's World, "UNITE HERE report shows workers can take on tech giants and win," 23 September 2026](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/unite-here-report-shows-workers-can-take-on-tech-giants-and-win/) 7. [GBH News, "Encore Boston Harbor casino workers go on strike as contract negotiations stall," 4 September 2026](https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2026-09-04/encore-boston-harbor-casino-workers-go-on-strike-as-contract-negotiations-stall) 8. [RedShark News, "No more strikes? SAG-AFTRA members back new AI deal, but not everyone is convinced," 8 June 2026](https://www.redsharknews.com/sag-aftra-ai-deal-synthetic-actors-2026) 9. [JD Supra / Jackson Lewis, "AI Stays at Center Stage at Entertainment Industry Collective Bargaining Talks," 23 July 2026](https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ai-stays-at-center-stage-at-9624242/) --- Kaiser put labor inside its AI decisions, then filed 147 back-office cuts — The Inference. Canonical: https://theinference.org/article/kaiser-put-labor-inside-its-ai-decisions-then-filed-147-back-office-cuts