Over 60,000 California Kaiser workers prepare for potential strike

Over 68,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers in California are preparing to go on strike for three days beginning Wednesday to push for solutions to staffing shortages and improved labor practices. 

The threat to strike from the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents eight unions in seven states and Washington, D.C., comes after a labor contract expired on Sept. 30. The coalition said in a news release on Monday that staffing has reached “unsafe level” at Kaiser facilities across the U.S., leading to “dangerously long wait times, mistaken diagnosis, and neglect.” The majority of workers who could potentially strike are located in California; some 7,000 Kaiser workers may go on strike at facilities outside California.

“Kaiser executives are refusing to listen to us and are bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis,” Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, said a statement. “I see my patients’ frustrations when I have to rush them and hurry on to my next patient. That’s not the care I want to give. We’re burning ourselves out trying to do the jobs of two or three.”

In Northern California, the workers planning to strike are associated with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and include nursing support staff, front desk clerks, teleservice representatives, respiratory therapists, emergency room department technicians, radiology technicians, X-ray technicians, dietary service workers, behavioral health workers, surgical technicians and pharmacy technicians. 

“Basically, think of anybody who is in the hospital,” Renée Saldaña, press secretary for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, said over the phone on Monday. “It takes a lot of people to make a hospital run.”

In the Bay Area, medical centers could be impacted in Antioch, Fremont, Oakland, Redwood City, Richmond, San Francisco, South San Francisco, San Jose, San Leandro, Santa Clara, Santa Rosa, Vacaville, Vallejo and Walnut Creek, according to the coalition of unions.

Kaiser Permanente said it’s making progress at the bargaining table, and the company said agreements have been made on several issues, including “a redesigned performance bonus sharing plan,” “travel for continuing education,” “the use of temporary workers such as traveling nurses,” “tracking of staffing vacancies” and “dispute resolution.”

If a strike occurs, hospitals and emergency departments will be open, according to an emailed statement from Kaiser.

“We may need to reschedule certain non-urgent appointments and procedures,” the company said. “We will contact any patient affected by the strike in advance if necessary – there is no need for members to call or email their doctor’s office at this time. Should a strike occur, kp.org will be updated with information about any impacted locations or services.”

Physicians and registered nurses are not planning to strike in Northern California, according to Kaiser.

“Coalition union-represented employees serve in a wide variety of roles, from housekeeping aides to service representatives to medical assistants, among many others,” Kaiser said. “This strike does not involve our physicians or nurses, who are being supported by teams of qualified health care professionals.”