Kaiser Workers Could Reauthorize Strike if Negotiations Break Down

Kaiser Permanente health care employees could continue to strike after Saturday’s scheduled end if negotiations with their employer aren’t successful.

Nearly 23,000 Kaiser employees in the Bay Area walked off the job on Wednesday for what has been recognized as the largest health care worker strike in U.S. history. The strike — which includes tens of thousands more Kaiser employees in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and Washington, D.C. — is slated to end on Saturday morning at 6 a.m., and the next bargaining session is scheduled for Oct. 12.

On Friday morning, the coalition of unions representing Kaiser employees said they could authorize another strike in the near future if bargaining continues to stand still.

There will be at least a 10-day notice before the strike might resume.

“It is possible that the coalition will issue a 10-day strike notice after Saturday, which could lead to further striking by Kaiser employees after those ten days if Kaiser executives continue to commit unfair labor practices and bargain in bad faith,” the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said in a press statement on Friday.

The two sides held negotiations earlier this week but were not able to reach an agreement before tens of thousands of Kaiser employees took to the picket lines early Wednesday morning.

Kaiser workers on strike this week include ultrasound sonographers, X-ray technicians, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, transporters, medical assistants and more.

The employees are demanding higher wages and increased staffing to slow burnout and turnover after millions of health care professionals left the field during the pandemic.

“Frontline healthcare workers continue to await meaningful action by Kaiser executives to address our key priorities, including safe staffing, outsourcing protections for incumbent healthcare workers, and fair wages to reduce turnover,” Gwendolyn Holloway, a contact lens technician at Kaiser Permanente Vallejo Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.

Kaiser officials said in an email that they “look forward to reaching a new agreement that continues to provide our employees with market-leading wages and benefits, and ensures our high-quality care is affordable and available to meet our members’ needs.”

Close to 75,000 Kaiser workers across the country are currently seeking increased staffing to raise the minimum wage across the board to $26 by 2026.

Kaiser recently offered a $23-per-hour minimum wage for its employees in California starting in 2024.

In earlier bargaining talks this year, Kaiser said it agreed to accelerate bringing on new staff and set a goal of adding 10,000 new employees represented by the Coalition by the end of 2023.

So far, Kaiser has hired 29,000 people in 2022, and 22,000 so far in 2023. Of the new hires this year, the company said more than 9,800 are in jobs represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, the company said in a press release.

For patients, some elective surgeries were postponed due to the strike, and COVID-19 and flu vaccine availability was also disrupted. (Read KQED’s guide for Kaiser patients during the strike and what you need to know.)

The next bargaining sessions are scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 12 and Friday, Oct. 13.