Operations were rescheduled, chemotherapy treatments were canceled and other procedures deemed “non-urgent” were postponed as tens of thousands of health care workers nationwide began to strike Wednesday.
In what union leaders call the largest health care worker strike in U.S. history, more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees across five states walked off the job this week, demanding better working conditions amid failed contract negotiations.
The strike, expected to last three days in some areas, affects more than 40 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical office buildings in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, D.C., according to the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
The strike includes hundreds of positions, including nurses, emergency department technicians, pharmacists, optometrists, home health aides, medical assistants, dental assistants and more.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents more than 85,000 workers, said Kaiser is experiencing a short-staffing crisis and that unsafe levels of staffing can result in long wait times, patient neglect and missed diagnoses.
Caroline Lucas, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, said in a statement Wednesday night: “Frontline healthcare workers are awaiting a meaningful response from Kaiser executives regarding some of our key priorities including safe staffing, outsourcing protections for incumbent healthcare workers, and fair wages to reduce turnover. Healthcare workers within the coalition remain ready to meet at any time. Currently, the strike continues, and there are no sessions scheduled at this hour.”
Pharmacists and optomestrists in Washington D.C. and Virginia were the first to launch the strike at 6 a.m. local time Wednesday morning, followed by workers in Colorado and on the West Coast.
Dozens of Kaiser employees, energized by their union's momentum, joined the picket line at Kaiser's Springfield Medical Center in Virginia soon after the strike began.
In a statement from Kaiser at 9 pm PT Tuesday, it said “Our team is available 24/7 to continue bargaining with the coalition until we reach a fair and equitable agreement. We remain optimistic that there is still time to find agreement before any of the work stoppages called by the coalition unions begin at 6 am on Wednesday.”
But as 6 am arrived on the West Coast, there was no word of a deal, and employees headed for the picket lines.
The strike is temporary. Kaiser Permanente workers will return to work on October 7 at 6 am local time in each state that joins the strike. However, a “longer, stronger” strike may come in November if a deal between the coalition and Kaiser Permanente is not reached after this strike effort, according to communications from SEIU-UHW, the largest union in the coalition.
The Kaiser strike comes amid several major labor actions in other sectors of the workforce. The United Auto Workers launched a strike on Sept. 15 against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis after failing to reach a contract agreement with the automakers.
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