SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other frontline health care workers at Kaiser Permanente went on strike Tuesday to demand better pay and staffing from the California-based health care giant.
Organizers say the five-day strike at 500 medical centers and offices in California, Hawaii and Oregon is the largest in the 50-year history of the United Nurses Associations of California/Health Professionals Union. The strike could grow to include 46,000 people.
Those on strike, including pharmacists, midwives and rehabilitation therapists, say salaries have not kept pace with inflation and there are not enough staff to meet patient demand.
They are calling for a 25% pay rise over four years to make up for salaries they say are at least 7% behind their peers.
Kaiser Permanente has countered with a 21.5% increase over four years. The company says the represented employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers and that it would have to charge customers more to meet the strikers’ wage demands.
The company said health clinics and hospitals will remain open during the strike, some in-person appointments will be changed to virtual appointments and some elective surgeries and procedures will be rescheduled.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health plans, serving 12.6 million members at 600 doctor offices and 40 hospitals in states mostly in the western U.S. It is headquartered in Oakland, California.