Particle.news
Download on the App Store
23 ARTICLES
·
3h ago

31,000 Kaiser Permanente Nurses and Clinicians Launch Five-Day Strike

Kaiser plans to keep facilities open by deploying up to 7,600 temporary staff.

Kaiser Permanente in Oakland.  On Monday, the company called a planned five-day strike “unnecessary and disruptive” as tens of thousands of nurses and health workers prepare to walk out.
Health care workers demonstrate outside Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Medical Center on Geary Boulevard on October 4, 2023 in San Francisco.  On Monday, the company called a planned five-day strike “unnecessary and disruptive” as tens of thousands of nurses and health workers prepare to walk out.
Mental health care workers icket outside of the Kaiser Permanente facility in Oakland on Aug. 16, 2022 over workload issues. On Monday, Kaiser Permanente called a planned five-day strike “unnecessary and disruptive” as tens of thousands of nurses and health workers prepare to walk out.
Kaiser workers strike at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. (File photo: Jose Carlos Fajardo/Bay Area News Group)

Overview

  • Pickets began at 7 a.m. Tuesday across California, Hawaii, Oregon and southwest Washington in what UNAC/UHCP calls its largest action, with the walkout scheduled through 7 a.m. Sunday.
  • Kaiser says hospitals and medical offices remain open, some non-urgent visits and elective procedures may be rescheduled or moved to virtual care, and more than 1,000 employees have volunteered for reassignment.
  • The core dispute centers on pay and staffing: unions seek roughly 25% wage increases over four years and stronger staffing voice, while Kaiser offers 21.5% and says Alliance-represented workers already earn about 16% above market.
  • Union officials say participation could expand to as many as 46,000 Alliance members, with about 4,000 OFNHP workers in Oregon and southwest Washington also striking.
  • Tensions were heightened by recent WARN notices for roughly 215–216 administrative and IT layoffs in California, as negotiations dating to May have produced 52 tentative local agreements but no overall contract.