OAKLAND, CA– An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line health care workers from Kaiser Permanente will return to work on Tuesday after… Four-week strike In California and Hawaii to demand better wages and employment.
The United Nurses of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said in a statement Monday that “significant movement at the bargaining table” prompted an end to the strike. There were no details about the progress made during the negotiations or what a potential agreement might look like.
“According to the union, members’ return to their patients and livelihoods is the clearest path to reaching a final agreement and building on the progress achieved during the strike,” the statement read.
Kaiser Permanente officials did not immediately comment on the union’s announcement.
The sit-in, which began on January 27, marked… The second major blow in recent months by employees represented by the union. The five-day strike ended in October with the resumption of negotiations, but the talks collapsed in December.
Those on the picket lines, including pharmacists, midwives and rehabilitation specialists, said salaries have not kept pace with inflation and there are not enough staff to keep up with patient demand.
They are demanding a 25% pay rise over four years to make up for wages they say are at least 7% behind their peers.
Kaiser Permanente faced a 21.5% increase over four years. The company asserted that its unionized employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers, and that it will have to charge customers more to meet strikers’ wage demands.
Clinics and hospitals remained open during the strike, with some in-person appointments converted to virtual, and some elective surgeries and procedures rescheduled.
Kaiser Permanente operates one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health systems, serving 12.6 million members in 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals in largely western U.S. states. It is headquartered in Oakland, California.
In New York City, nurses in the privately run New York-Presbyterian Hospital system He agreed to a new contract Saturday, voting ends Big strike There after more than a month.
Two other large private hospitals in New York, Montefiore and Mount Sinai, ended the nurses’ strike earlier this month. Signing contract agreements With the same union.