We are deeply saddened by the passing of Rick Brown, former Executive Assistant to the President for UFCW 1996 and fierce union leader of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in Georgia. Rick was a mainstay of the Alliance and the LMP. He organized and represented Kaiser Permanente Georgia employees from the time they first unionized under card check. Georgia was the last KP region to unionize and Rick was key to organizing and building the union and the partnership from the ground up.
With Rick’s leadership UFCW 1996 was successful in maintaining very high union membership rates at KP despite the state being “right to work”. He was also persistent in ensuring that the remaining nonunion KP Georgia employees had the chance to unionize, regularly pursuing card check drives, no matter how large or small the unit. In a tough environment, he was able to build a strong union and a strong partnership at KP. And he did all this while maintaining significant bargaining and representational responsibilities outside KP as assistant to the local President.
Rick understood that as a union in a small and financially challenged KP region, UFCW 1996 benefited from labor solidarity, and he invested the time to travel regularly to West Coast meetings. He also understood that, as a provider of good union jobs in a mostly non-union area, KP’s success was not guaranteed and was critically important to the local and its members. He led with a commitment to the labor solidarity and success and to the success of KP Georgia. He built strong relationships with his labor colleagues across the country and with national and regional management partners. He also began succession planning for his retirement by ensuring that Ralph Porras was introduced to the complexity of the partnership and the Alliance, and that Ralph had the opportunity to build relationships to establish a seamless transition.
Mainly, Rick was fun to be around – warm, funny, and welcoming. He took pleasure in the work and in the company of others and was able to laugh about the challenges and occasional absurdities we faced without sugarcoating them. He was loyal and committed to always doing the right thing. And despite handling a huge workload in and out of KP, and succeeding in the tough Georgia environment, Rick never complained about the challenges or bragged about his successes. When he announced his intention to retire, he did so quietly and was emphatic that he did not want the public recognition that his long service to the Alliance and LMP would have merited.
We extend our condolences to his family, friends, and our labor family. We will honor his fierce organizing legacy every day in our partnership work and beyond.