"The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals announced Thursday that it has served Kaiser with a strike notice on grounds that the collective bargaining process has not produced a new contract that its 31,000 members find acceptable. The union says that its members are still handling "escalating workloads that are contributing to dangerous delays in care," and that "stagnant" wages do not "keep up with the skyrocketing cost of housing, food and health care.""
"During the strike in October, Kaiser rejected workers' claims about understaffing, insisting that wages are the main reason why workers walked picket lines. Kaiser said its nurses rejected a proffered 21.5% wage increase spread over four years, which also included increases to benefits. UNAC/UHCP also represents about 5,700 registered nurses at Sharp HealthCare. The union announced late last week that it reached a tentative contract agreement with Sharp, but neither side has yet shared details of the deal."
Just 98 days after a five-day strike, 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health professionals in California and Hawaii plan an open-ended strike starting Jan. 26. The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals served Kaiser with a strike notice, citing stalled collective bargaining, escalating workloads causing dangerous care delays, stagnant wages that fail to match rising housing, food, and health costs, and a demand for pensions instead of savings-based retirement plans. Kaiser maintained that wages were the principal issue in the prior strike and said nurses rejected a 21.5% wage offer over four years. The union also represents nurses at Sharp HealthCare, which reached a tentative agreement.
Read at The Mercury News
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