Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers launch five-day strike

"Tens of Thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California and Hawaii walked off the job early Tuesday as they urged the nation's largest not-for-profit medical provider to increase salaries and address staffing shortages. Up to 31,000 registered nurses, nurse anesthetists, pharmacists, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists and other specialists are involved in the planned five-day strike."

""We've been really clear, our workers are trying to keep up and catch up with the cost of inflation," said Charmaine Morales, president of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, known as UNAC/UHCP. Morales said the union's request to raise wages 25% was necessary to compensate for the far smaller increases workers received in their 2021 contract negotiations, when they received a 2% raise in the first year."

Approximately 31,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers in California and Hawaii initiated a five-day strike to push for higher wages and improved staffing. The striking group includes registered nurses, nurse anesthetists, pharmacists, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists and speech language pathologists. Union leaders say a 25% wage increase is needed to offset inflation and to remedy small prior raises, and they seek permanent hires and long-term solutions to staffing burnout. The union proposed an internal on-call registry to reduce reliance on contract traveling nurses. Kaiser called the walkout unnecessary and cited significant payroll cost increases.

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