Kaiser Permanente’s 2,600 California mental health clinicians will launch a weeklong, statewide strike Jan. 12 to protest what they say is its failure to give timely, quality mental health care.

The psychologists, therapists and social workers represented by the National Union of Healthcare Workers will be joined by more than 700 other Kaiser workers who also report problems with inadequate staffing.

“There’s been a long-standing problem with access to quality mental health care at Kaiser,” said Clement Papazian, a clinical social worker at Kaiser in Oakland and president of NUHW’s Northern California chapter of mental health clinicians.

Papazian acknowledged that Kaiser has been hiring additional mental health workers but said more are needed.

“They’re playing catch-up with the hiring,” he said.

Kaiser said Wednesday that it was disappointed that the NUHW — “a small California union that has been in protracted negotiations with Kaiser Permanente for the past four years” — had chosen to strike after having returned to stalled contract talks for just one session.

In its prepared statement, Kaiser said it planned to meet with the union on Jan. 6 to discuss proposals for “access to mental-health care, through the efficiency of care delivery, and proposals from NUHW regarding wages and benefits.”

The state fined Kaiser $4 million in 2013 for failing to provide mental health treatment in a timely manner. The state Department of Managed Health Care also said Kaiser violated state law that requires equal access for both mental and physical health treatment.

The penalty was the second largest in the department’s history. Its investigation also found that Kaiser’s written description of its mental health services was complicated and misleading and “could dissuade an enrollee from pursuing medically necessary care.”

The long wait times for follow-up appointments also has overloaded Kaiser’s emergency psychiatric services, putting at risk patients with serious mental health problems, Papazian said.

Kaiser has started subcontracting some mental health services to Value Options of California, according to the union.

“In our mind, that validates the truth of what we’ve been saying” about staffing shortages, said Papazian, who has worked for Kaiser for 25 years.

The state also fined Value Options $60,000 in 2014 for “repeated deficiencies” in paying claims and for violating California regulations and state consumer health and safety laws.

An influx of new patients who joined Kaiser after the Affordable Care Act when into effect in 2014 has made a bad staffing situation worse, workers say. Many of those patients previously had no insurance and have many mental health issues requiring more intense treatment, Papazian said.

The mental health workers will be joined on the picket line by more than 700 other Kaiser workers, including Northern California optical workers and Southern California medical social workers, speech pathologists, audiologists, health educators, and registered dietitians.

Contact Rebecca Parr at 510-293-2473 or follow her at Twitter.com/rdparr1.