Kaiser strike ends, contract negotiations to resume

Kaiser Permanente announced Sunday that it is resuming “normal operations” after a five-day strike put many of its bedside workers on picket lines last week.

The work stoppage, which involved about 31,000 members of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals in California, Hawaii and Oregon, forced the health care giant to delay an unspecified number of scheduled medical procedures as replacement workers filled shifts in more than 500 of its hospitals and clinics.

Both the union and Kaiser said in separate statements released Sunday that contract negotiations, which went on hiatus before the strike, are expected to resume on Oct. 28 and Oct 29. The two sides continue to disagree on the main reasons that workers, including many registered nurses, walked off their jobs.

The union, as its picket signs reflected, has made its public message about safe staffing, accusing Kaiser of failing to hire and schedule enough workers to properly care for its members who number more than 600,000 in San Diego County alone, exceeding 9.5 million statewide and reaching nearly 13 million nationwide.

“This strike wasn’t just about numbers on a contract — it was about the right to provide safe care to every patient who walks through those doors,” a union statement said.

Kaiser rejects any assertion that the strike was about anything other than wages, indicating that workers have rejected a 21.5% raise spread over four years that also “enhances their high-value medical plans and retiree benefits.”

“While the Alliance has publicly emphasized staffing and other concerns, wages are the reason for the strike and the primary issue in negotiations,” a Kaiser statement said.

The union did not respond Sunday when asked whether its members plan to strike again in 2025 if the next round of contract negotiations does not satisfy members, saying only that “there are no additional strikes planned at this time.”

Meanwhile, about 2,200 Kaiser pharmacists in Southern California announced through their union, United Food and Commercial Workers, that their membership voted to strike over what they say are unfair labor practices.” The union says that its members have faced “union-busting tactics.”

Kaiser said in a statement on Sunday that the vote has not yet generated the kind of action that would start the strike clock ticking. Unions are required to give health care employers 10-day advanced notice of a strike so that they can hire temporary replacement workers, as it is not possible to shut down hospitals and other emergency-serving services during labor actions.

“Pharmacists voted for strike authorization if necessary but have not given notice,” the statement read. “Their contract does not expire until November 1.”