Over 75K US Healthcare Workers Go on Strike

According to CNN, more than 75,000 U.S. healthcare workers, including maintenance and janitorial staff, walked off the job on Wednesday, demanding better pay and benefits. The nationwide strike is the largest involving healthcare workers in U.S. history.

The striking workers are employees of Kaiser Permanente, an American integrated managed care consortium with locations in California, Colorado, Washington, Virginia, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. The workers are represented by a coalition of eight unions that comprise 40% of Kaiser Permanente’s total staff, CNN reports.

Stating that staff shortages have caused workers to feel overworked and burnt out, the unions are looking for higher pay, protections against outsourcing, and prompt notice when remote employees need to report to work in person.

“Workers are really being squeezed right now,” Renee Saldana, a spokesperson for SEIU-UHW, the largest union in the coalition, told CNN. “They went through the worst global health crisis in a generation, and then they come out and they’re worried about paying rent, they’re worried about losing their house, they’re worried about living in their cars.”

According to CNN, Kaiser Permanente has agreed to hiring more staff, with a goal of hiring 10,000 new union employees before 2024.

In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said, “We lead total compensation in every market where we operate, and our proposals in bargaining would ensure we keep that position.”

Union contracts with Kaiser Permanente expired on September 30. Negotiations between the coalition and Kaiser continued Wednesday, but no deal had yet been reached. A Kaiser Permanente spokesperson noted that its hospitals and emergency departments would continue to be open and staffed during the strike, although in some cases, with “contingent workers.”

CNN reports that the strike, being temporary, will end at 6 a.m. local time for each location on Saturday, October 7, even if a deal has not been made. However, according to SEIU-UHW, another walk-off could occur in November if there is still no agreement between the parties.