Tens Of Thousands Of Kaiser Nurses Walk Out Over Wages And Short Staffing

Approximately 31,000 registered nurses and frontline workers affiliated with Kaiser Permanente initiated a strike on Tuesday, advocating for enhanced wages and improved staffing conditions from the California-based healthcare titan. Organizers asserted that this five-day strike, spanning 500 medical facilities and offices across California, Hawaii, and Oregon, constitutes the most significant in the 50-year record of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. Participation could potentially escalate to 46,000 individuals. Strikers, which include pharmacists, midwives, and rehabilitation therapists, contend that their salaries have fallen behind inflation and that staffing levels are inadequate to meet patient needs. They are seeking a 25% wage increase over four years to address a reported 7% deficit compared to their peers. Kaiser Permanente has proposed a 21.5% increase over the same period, claiming that current salaries for represented employees are, on average, 16% higher than those in similar roles elsewhere. Despite the strike, the company assures that health clinics and hospitals will continue operations, transitioning some in-person appointments to virtual formats and rescheduling certain elective surgeries. Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, California, serves 12.6 million members across 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals primarily situated in the western United States.

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