More than 4,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in Oregon and southwest Washington are poised to walk off the job Wednesday as part of a multi-state strike to pressure the health care consortium on pay and staffing.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents workers in seven states and the District of Columbia, on Monday announced a three-day strike that will include 75,000 employees. While Kaiser management is hoping for a breakthrough in contract negotiations, the massive strike would affect its hospitals arounds the country and cap off a summer marked by labor unrest in Oregon and elsewhere.
Potentially striking Kaiser workers in Oregon and southwest Washington are represented by Service Employees International Union Local 49. They include dental assistants, lab techs, housekeepers, phlebotomists, schedulers and others who argue they need a pay bump to keep up with inflation and for Kaiser to retain staff.
“We’re prepared to take action to solve the Kaiser short staffing crisis and to keep our patients safe,” Megan Mayes, a patient access representative at Kaiser’s Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, said in a statement.
Kaiser will keep its hospitals and emergency departments open during the strike while meeting the “urgent needs of our members and patients,” according to a statement issued by the health care consortium Monday afternoon. Physicians and managers will continue to staff facilities along with “contingent workers” in some cases, according to the statement.
“A strike is not inevitable, and it is certainly not justified,” reads the statement. “Our goal is to reach a fair and equitable agreement that strengthens Kaiser Permanente as a best place to work and ensures that the high-quality care our members expect from us remains affordable and easy to access.”
The strike is scheduled to begin at 6 a.m. on Wednesday and last until Saturday. According to a press statement from the union coalition, the work stoppage will be the largest health care workers strike in U.S. history. The union coalition provided Kaiser management with the required 10-day notice of the strike on Sept. 22.
Negotiations between Kaiser and the unions for a new contract have been under way since April, and the current agreement expired on September 30. Union representatives say the strike is intended to protest unfair labor practices and Kaiser’s failure to boost wages to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of living while not recruiting enough workers to adequately care for patients.
Both sides have agreed to continue bargaining despite the looming strike and are making progress, according to Kaiser’s statement.
The statement from Kaiser acknowledged the pandemic’s toll on health care workers and noted that providers across the country are facing staff shortages and burnout. Kaiser’s statement touted its most recent offer that includes guaranteed across-the-board wage increases totaling 12.5% over four years, saying it preserves the health care consortium’s leading position in “total compensation” in its markets.
Kaiser has more than half a million members in Oregon and southwest Washington, served by two hospitals and 36 medical offices.
Kaiser Permanente pharmacy technicians, who are represented by Local 555 of the United Food and Commercial Workers, began a strike on Sunday.
The Oregon Association of Nurses in June launched a five-day strike at three Providence Health and Services workplaces while raising similar issues of staffing and pay.
