An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and different frontline Kaiser Permanente well being care employees went on strike Tuesday to demand higher wages and staffing from the Oakland-based well being care big.
Organizers say the five-day strike at 500 medical facilities and places of work in California, Hawaii and Oregon is the biggest within the 50-year historical past of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Well being Care Professionals. The strike may develop to 46,000 folks.
The strikers, who embody pharmacists, midwives and rehabilitation therapists, say wages haven’t stored tempo with inflation and there aren’t sufficient employees to fulfill affected person demand.
They’re asking for a 25% pay improve over 4 years to make up for wages they are saying are at the very least 7% behind their friends.
Kaiser Permanente has achieved a rise of 21.5% over a four-year interval. The corporate says represented employees earn a median of 16% greater than their colleagues, and that it must cost clients extra to fulfill strikers’ wage calls for.
The corporate stated well being clinics and hospitals will stay open through the strike, with some in-person appointments shifting to digital appointments and a few elective surgical procedures and procedures rescheduled.
Kaiser Permanente is without doubt one of the nation’s largest nonprofit well being care organizations, with 12.6 million members in 600 medical places of work and 40 hospitals in largely western U.S. states.