75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike

Kaiser Permanente workers walked off the job Wednesday to fight for a better working environment -- one that is safer for patients and more tolerable for employees.

“We’re exhausted," said Rocio Chacon, a striking Kaiser worker who also serves on the union's negotiating committee.

Chacon said the health facility she works at reminds her of the poor health care people received when she was growing up in Mexico.

"I’m having flashbacks of what it was back home, me growing up," Chacon said. "Coming into the emergency room and waiting to be seen for hours. Or even being left tied in a room waiting for an X-ray or for lab work. You might have a condition that might not be critical, but because you have not been seen within that period of time that could potentially save your life, it can be something very simple that can turn onto a bigger issue.”

Among other improvements, the union demands that Kaiser management implement a strategy to fix chronic staff shortages that leave patients out of luck when they need care. The union coalition on strike has called staffing levels at Kaiser facilities "unsafe" and patient wait times for care "dangerous."

Ju'Anna Isaiah is a ward clerk transcriber in a recovery unit at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in Los Angeles, helping coordinate patients' rooms after they come out of surgery, or if a patient needs to go to intensive care.

Isaiah said she is often the only person in her unit due to a short-staffing crisis at Kaiser Permanente's hospitals, and she occasionally needs to leave her post vacant to back-fill other units.

"That's a problem. That's part of our staffing crisis that we're trying to get fixed because we need someone at each station at all times," she said.

The union coalition is demanding that Kaiser Permanente management come up with a strategy to combat staff shortages that have left employees feeling overworked and burnt out. Kaiser said it agreed to accelerate hiring, committing to hiring 10,000 union-represented workers this year. Kaiser also said the health care industry nationwide is facing labor shortages.

Isaiah said she was hopeful that contract negotiations with Kaiser management would prove successful and a strike would be avoided.

Health care workers taking to the picket lines across the country are fighting for better pay and benefits -- particularly in an expensive state like California, where most of the 75,000 striking Kaiser Permanente workers walked off the job Wednesday.

“We don’t want to see nurses sleeping in their cars because they have to travel two hours to get home because they can’t afford the cost of living in California. That’s why we’re also begging for the increase of the… minimum wages," said Rocio Chacon, a striking Kaiser worker who also serves on the union's negotiating committee.

Striking employees say staff shortages have left them feeling overworked and burnt out. In a recent statement, Kaiser Permanente said it has agreed to accelerate hiring, setting a goal of hiring 10,000 new people for union-represented jobs by the end of 2023.

The union coalition is demanding higher pay among other benefits, including a strategy to fix chronic staff shortages, protections against outsourcing, and earlier notice when management calls remote workers back to in-person work.

"As we speak there are nurses that are sleeping in their cars because of two reasons. One, they can’t afford cost of living here so they have to move two, three hours (away) and then because of short staff they’re working 14, 16 hours so they’re tired," Chacon said. "So their best choice is to be Monday through Friday in their cars."

The multi-state strike comes during a time of elevated labor activity in the United States. Several large-scale strikes have paralyzed companies and entire industries in recent months.  

The United Auto Workers are on strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, and it's the first time the union has struck all three simultaneously. 

The entertainment industry also contended with dual strikes this summer after Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ unions went on strike at the same time for the first time since 1960. The leadership of the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios last month, but the actors’ guild strike is ongoing. 

The health care industry has been particularly affected by rising strike activity. Work stoppages among health care workers are elevated compared to 2019 data, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In January, more than 7,000 nurses at two major New York City hospitals went on strike, arguing that immense staffing shortages have led to burnout. Their complaints echo those of Kaiser Permanente’s employees. 

Kaiser acknowledged its staffing challenges in a statement but argued the issue has affected health care providers nationwide. 

“Every health care provider in the nation has been facing staffing shortages and fighting burnout. During the Great Resignation in 2021-22, more than 5 million people left their health care jobs across the country. Up to two-thirds of health care staff are saying they are burnt out and more than 1 in 5 are quitting,” the company said in a statement. “Kaiser Permanente is not immune from these challenges.” 

Striking employees say staff shortages have left them feeling overworked and burnt out. In a recent statement, Kaiser Permanente said it has agreed to accelerate hiring, setting a goal of hiring 10,000 new people for union-represented jobs by the end of 2023. 

The union coalition is demanding higher pay, a strategy by Kaiser Permanente management to tackle chronic staff shortages, protections against outsourcing, and earlier notice when management calls remote workers back to in-person work. 

According to an update by the SEIU-UHW, negotiating progress was made before the strike began, though management and the unions are still far apart regarding employee raises. 

Kaiser Permanente has offered location-dependent wage increases, with a maximum of 4% for each of the four years of the new contract, according to an October 1 update by SEIU-UHW. The coalition rejected that offer, saying such a raise proposal fails to keep up with the cost of living. 

The coalition is asking for an across-the-board 6.5% raise in the first two years of the labor contract and a 5.75% raise in the next two years. 

“Workers are really being squeezed right now,” Renee Saldana, a spokesperson for SEIU-UHW, told CNN. “They went through the worst global health crisis in a generation and then they come out and they’re worried about paying rent, they’re worried about losing their house, they’re worried about living in their cars.” 

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it is a leader in pay.  

“We lead total compensation in every market where we operate, and our proposals in bargaining would ensure we keep that position,” a spokesperson for Kaiser Permanente said in a statement. 

Kaiser Permanente management and union representatives agreed on some of the union’s demands. For example, Kaiser Permanente agreed to renew outsourcing and subcontracting protections for many workers, and decided on 60-day notice before remote staff are required to return to in-person work, according to SEIU-UHW.   

Kaiser Permanente operates differently from the fee-for-service model of most health care providers in the United States, a system in which a doctor or health care provider is paid a fee for each service performed. Kaiser Permanente “members” pay dues to the organization to gain access to Kaiser Permanente’s wide-ranging health care services. 

Though doctors and most registered nurses are not striking, some patient care may be affected by the temporary work stoppage. In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it has made preparations for the strike, but that patients should expect that some non-emergency and elective services will be rescheduled during the work stoppage “out of an abundance of caution.”  

“Our hospitals and emergency departments will remain open. Our facilities will continue to be staffed by our physicians, trained and experienced managers, and staff, and in some cases we will augment with contingent workers,” a Kaiser Permanente spokesperson said.  

Many health care employees are picketing, including nursing staff, dietary workers, receptionists, optometrists, and pharmacists. The labor effort comes after the workers’ employment contracts expired at 11:59pm PT on September 30. Negotiations between the union and Kaiser Permanente continued into Tuesday, but the two sides could not agree on a deal by the coalition’s deadline of Wednesday morning.   

The strike is temporary. Kaiser Permanente workers will return to work on October 7 at 6am local time in each state currently on 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 coalition of unions representing 75,000 strikers at Kaiser Permanente says that management is threatening the union with outsourcing jobs, and that is the problem in negotiations between the two sides.

"In recent days, Kaiser executives maintaining aggressive threats of outsourcing became a sticking point in negotiations, especially at a time when the company is failing to retain key employees," said the unions in a statement issued shortly after the start of the largest US health care strike in US history.

"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," said Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, in the union's statement.

Kaiser did not immediately respond to the union's complaint. Earlier in the day Wednesday it issued a statement saying both management and the unions are still at the bargaining table, having worked through the night in an effort to reach an agreement.

"We remain committed to reaching a new agreement that continues to provide our employees with market-leading wages, excellent benefits, generous retirement income plans, and valuable professional development opportunities," said the company's statement.

Kaiser Permanente said Wednesday morning that it remains in discussions with a coalition of unions representing striking employees, even as workers walk off the job. The two sides worked through the night in California, the company said.