Kaiser strike

Approximately 45,000 health care workers held a five day strike at Kaiser Permanente facilities across Hawaii, California and Oregon. The strike affected over 500 facilities and was the largest in health care union history. Striking workers included registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurse anesthetists, nurse midwives, pharmacists and therapists — represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.

In a statement, the union said the strike was necessary to force Kaiser to meet workers’ demands for safe staffing, fair wages and improved working conditions. It has been two years since negotiations for a first contract began in 2023 because Kaiser bosses have been dragging their feet.

Union members want a 25% wage increase over four years in order to keep up with the cost of living and to bring wages that have been stagnant up to market. For example, physician assistants at Kaiser make 30% to 40% below their counterparts elsewhere.

Physician Assistant Arezou Mansourian was part of the union organizing team at Kaiser in the San Francisco Bay Area. She explained how winning the salary demand will have a significant influence on patient care and proper staffing, because a better wage package will aid in recruiting new staff. Mansourian said: “If we had more PAs, we’d be able to see people in a more time-efficient way. We’d also be able to spend longer with patients. Kaiser has a reputation of trying to shorten their visits, and that’s been a frustrating thing. The more patients they add on us, the less time we have to see patients.” (msn.com, Oct. 19)

The situation at Kaiser is typical of health care conglomerates across the U.S. as workers are forced to “do more with less” by C-suite bosses far removed from patient care.

The Kaiser strike ended and everyone returned to work on Oct 19. The health care workers are hopeful the strike has forced Kaiser to finally understand their value when negotiations resume on Oct. 22.