REGION — An estimated 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees nationwide initiated a three-day strike on Wednesday, including several thousand employees in the San Diego region, in what is being called the largest health care worker strike in U.S. history.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions followed through on their promise to participate in a work stoppage early on Wednesday morning in California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington, D.C. after failing to reach a new contract agreement with Kaiser leaders.
In San Diego County, health care employees started lining the streets at 6 a.m. outside of Kaiser hospitals, including Zion and San Diego medical centers, San Marcos Medical Center, Palomar Medical Center, and Tri-City Medical Center.
“We’re making history today,” said Carlsbad licensed vocational nurse Catherine Engler, speaking outside of Kaiser’s new San Marcos hospital that opened in August. “Our members love their jobs and they love their patients. This is the last thing they wanted to do, but they have to fight now for their health and their families.”
Engler has been with Kaiser for 36 years and is also the vice president of OPEIU Local 30, which represents Kaiser workers in the San Diego region. Engler said their contract expired on Sept. 30 and that workers waited all night Tuesday to hear if an agreement had been reached.
“If this doesn’t get resolved in these three days, then we’ll be working without a contract. And if it still doesn’t get resolved, we’ll strike again in November for a week,” Engler said.
A range of workers is involved in the strike, including licensed vocational nurses, medical assistants, emergency department technicians, surgical, radiology and X-ray technicians, ultrasound sonographers, teleservice representatives, behavioral health workers, and more.
Union members claim Kaiser Permanente has negotiated in bad faith and refused to agree to a pay scale that corresponds with the skyrocketing cost of living, among other demands. California workers have asked for a $25 minimum starting pay for all employees, which Kaiser has countered with $23.
Executives have defended lower pay offers by stating that in some markets, employees are already paid 28% above the market average.
“Kaiser Permanente, our industry, and our employees are now operating in a new cultural, labor, and post-pandemic environment that we are all working hard to understand,” Kaiser spokesperson Jennifer Dailard said in a statement Wednesday. “We are committed to finding workable solutions for this new environment that meet our responsibility to balance taking care of our employees and being affordable to our members.”
Despite this, workers say they are still struggling to make ends meet.
“To me, it’s important to make sure that we keep our wages competitive, and the most important thing of all is to keep safe staffing for all our members,” said Cassandra Pressney, a hospital unit coordinator in San Marcos. “I think there’s a disconnect between the corporate office people, and the people on the ground doing the work.”
Kaiser leaders initially appeared optimistic about reaching an agreement as the strike loomed, negotiating throughout the night on Tuesday. U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su was also reportedly in touch with Kaiser officials to see if an agreement could be reached to prevent a strike.
Dailard said Kaiser hospitals and emergency departments are remaining open during the strike and will be able to continue meeting patient needs.
Kaiser also hired thousands of temporary health care workers days earlier to help cover staffing in the event the strike did take place, the Union-Tribune reported.
“We have robust plans in place to ensure members continue to receive safe, high-quality care during the strike,” Dailard said.
Nine laboratory locations in San Diego County were closed as of Wednesday as a result of the strike, according to Kaiser’s website.
Dailard said while parties were unable to reach an agreement before the strike, they did reach a number of tentative agreements. In addition, Kaiser said they have “addressed the unions’ priorities” in their offers so far, including offering across-the-board wage increases over the next four years, implementing minimum payout opportunities, enhancing health and retirement benefits, and renewing tuition assistance and training programs.
In response to employees’ demands that Kaiser needs to do more to address severe understaffing that is resulting in decreased quality of care for patients, Dailard said Kaiser has also reached its goal of hiring 10,000 people nationwide in 2023.
Going forward, Kaiser said they are ready to resume negotiations.
“We will coordinate with Coalition leaders to reconvene bargaining as soon as possible,” Dailard said. “We will work hard to reach an agreement so that together, we can all return to delivering on the mission of Kaiser Permanente for the benefit of our members, patients, employees, physicians, customers, and communities.”
Kaiser said they will contact members who are affected by any necessary change in service and that some non-emergency and elective services may need to be rescheduled out of an abundance of caution. Other updates are available online at kp.org.
