By Maria Ortiz
04 Oct 2023, 01:33 AM EDT
More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in several states will go on strike Wednesday to protest unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels at hundreds of Kaiser hospitals and facilities across the United States, the U.S. government said.
The strike, which is expected to last three days, will be possibly the largest health care worker strike in U.S. history and Kaiser Permanente patients may be affected. Strike pickets will be set up at Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical office buildings across the country, including California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC
Health care workers are set to go off work for three days starting Wednesday at 6 a.m. in what has been described as potentially the largest healthcare workers strike in US history.
Discussions between the Kaiser Permanente Coalition of Unions and the healthcare provider have been unsuccessful so far and workers say they are struggling with a staffing crisis that is affecting the quality of patient care.
Workers are calling for across-the-board pay increases, retiree health plans and protections against outsourcing and hiring from outside Kaiser Permanente.
“Kaiser executives refuse to listen to us and are negotiating in bad faith for the solutions we need to end Kaiser’s staffing shortage crisis,” said Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center.
“I see my patients’ frustrations when I have to rush them and move on to the next patient. That’s not the care I want to provide. “We are burning ourselves out trying to do the work of two or three people, and our patients are suffering when they can’t get the care they need because of Kaiser’s staffing shortages,” Cruz said.
SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West announced on September 14 that 98% of its members voted to approve the October 4-6 strike to protest “unfair labor practices.”
Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health care provider in the U.S., reporting profits exceeding $3 billion in the first six months of 2023, according to the Associated Press.
All hospitals and emergency rooms will remain open during the strike. Pharmacies will also remain open and Kaiser Permanente officials said they are working to keep urgent care centers operating.
The health system said it is trying to avoid or minimize any impact on medical appointments, but if there are any changes or cancellations, patients will be notified.
Non-urgent surgeries or procedures may be postponed.
Kaiser and the Kaiser Permanente Coalition of Unions last negotiated a contract in 2019, a year before health care workers were put on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic and forced to work in worsening conditions.
As conversations continuethe parties have yet to reach an agreement on a minimum hourly wage for workers and the rate of annual increases over the life of the four-year contract.
The union wants a minimum wage of $25 an hour and raises of 7% in the first two years and 6.25% in the following two years, according to its latest public proposal.
Kaiser has responded with minimum hourly wages of between $21 and $23 next year, rising by one dollar a year. Salary increases would vary by location.
Keep reading:
– Some 75,000 health care workers will strike this week if they do not reach a labor agreement
– Governor Newsom vetoes bill to give unemployment checks to striking workers
– Biden: the first US president to participate with strikers on a picket line