An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente health care workers launched an open-ended strike on Monday in California and Hawaii, demanding higher wages and better staffing from the health care giant.
Workers are seeking a 25% wage increase over four years, saying their compensation has not kept pace with inflation and staffing levels are inadequate to meet patient demand. The walkout marked the second major strike in recent months by employees represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.
The Kaiser strike reflects mounting pressure on health care employers to match rising wages in a competitive labor market. The dispute comes as the company struggles to retain and recruit medical staff, with physicians and nurses departing for higher-paying positions at other local hospitals.
The Wage Dispute
Kaiser Permanente countered the union’s 25% wage increase demand with an offer of 21.5% over four years, saying that represented employees already earn an average of 16% more than their peers at other institutions. The company stated that meeting workers’ full demand would require raising costs to customers.
Workers counter that their wages lag at least 7% behind comparable positions at peer hospitals. The disparity has contributed to staffing difficulties, with medical staff departing Kaiser for higher-paying positions elsewhere.
Arezou Mansourian, a physician assistant on the union’s bargaining team, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Kaiser has struggled to retain and recruit medical providers, affecting patient care. “We know it’s a pain right now, but it’s so that we can take care of you better in the future,” Mansourian said of the strike’s impact.
The union’s bargaining committee said in a statement: “We will continue to push Kaiser to stop their egregious unfair labor practices against the frontline workers who deliver the best care for their patients and billions in profit to do the right thing, and come back to the table to bargain in good faith.”
Bargaining at Impasse
Negotiations remain stalled. The union says Kaiser has refused to return to national-level bargaining discussions. Kaiser maintains it agreed to resume local negotiations but paused national bargaining in December following what the company described as a threatening incident involving a union official.
“Illegal threats are a line that cannot be crossed,” Kaiser’s chief human resources officer Greg Holmes said. “This union official’s actions have compromised the national bargaining process and undermined both parties’ ability to continue good-faith bargaining.”
Second Strike in Recent Months
This strike represents the second major walkout in recent months. A five-day strike in October ended with negotiations resuming, but those talks broke down in December.
Kaiser Permanente operates 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals across largely western U.S. states, serving 12.6 million members. The company said that during the strike, clinics and hospitals will remain open, though some in-person appointments will shift to virtual visits and some elective surgeries and procedures will be rescheduled.
The Kaiser strike is the latest in a series of labor actions by healthcare workers seeking better wages and staffing. In New York City, approximately 15,000 nurses who walked off the job at three hospital systems earlier in January have already returned to the bargaining table.