75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are officially on strike
The largest health worker strike went into effect on Wednesday morning, as an agreement between 75,000 healthcare workers and Kaiser Permanente hospitals has yet to be reached.
The strike began on 4 October at 6am PT as the workers — nurses, radiology technicians, pharmacists, sonographers and others — are striking “to protest unfair labor practices and unsafe staffing levels,” according to the latest release from SEIU-UHW, a union that is part of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
The strike will take place across the country in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Virginia and Washington DC and is expected to last three days.
The strike comes after failed negotiations following the workers’ contract expiring on 30 September.
Early on Wednesday, Kaiser Permanente also issued a statement on the progress, saying the two parties are “still at the bargaining table, having worked through the night in an effort to reach an agreement. There has been a lot of progress, with agreements reached on several specific proposals late Tuesday.”
But the coalition was singing to a different tune. “No agreement can be made until Kaiser executives stop bargaining in bad faith and committing unfair labor practices,” said, Caroline Lucas, executive director of the coalition.
The jury is still out on the exact effects the walkout has on patient care, although reports predict vaccine access, prescriptions being filled, and lab testing could be disrupted.
