A strike by Kaiser Permanente health care workers continued into its third day on Thursday, with no agreement reached in ongoing contract negotiations. The strike has involved 2,800 employees at Northern California Kaiser facilities, including physical therapists, nurse midwives, physician assistants, occupational therapists and other skilled professionals represented by the United Nurses Associations of California and the Union of Health Care Professionals.
A larger action has seen 31,000 Kaiser employees walk off the job across California, Oregon and Hawaii. In Stanislaus County, the impact has been less visible; the Kaiser hospital in north Modesto has not been a central location for picketing.
Kaiser Permanente reported that 3% of appointments and surgeries across Northern California are being rescheduled as a result of the strike. The organization is converting some appointments to remote formats such as phone or video calls. Pharmacies remain open with normal hours. “We recognize our employees’ hard work and have offered a strong contract proposal that pays off immediately and over the long term,” Kaiser said.
The Oakland-based company stated it is prepared to resume negotiations after the five-day strike concludes on Sunday. Hospitals are continuing operations using physicians, managers, temporary nurses and volunteers to maintain essential services.
The labor dispute centers on significant wage proposals for four-year contracts. Kaiser said it has offered a 21.5% wage increase plus an additional half percent for local bargaining groups. Unions are seeking 25% raises—an increase that would raise payroll costs by $2.2 billion from a current $6.3 billion payroll for these employees. According to Kaiser, this would lead to higher rates for customers who use Kaiser Permanente health plans.
The health system serves about 12.5 million patients and approximately 60,000 employees are affected by these negotiations. For example, unionized registered nurses in Southern California currently earning $77 per hour would see their pay rise to $101.69 per hour over four years—a jump from $160,860 to $211,500 annually.
Contract discussions began in May between Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Health Care Unions (AHCU), which represents 23 unions within Kaiser’s workforce. Not all unions are participating in the current strike action.
Earlier this week, Kaiser reported reaching agreements with 17 out of 54 local bargaining groups but said talks with AHCU remain unresolved.
Hal Ruddick, executive director of AHCU, told The Sacramento Bee that aggressive wage proposals reflect recent inflation: “It was time for wages to catch up with inflation.” He noted that their previous contract provided only a 10% raise over four years before U.S. inflation worsened.
The union also wants language added to its contract giving members more influence over patient scheduling decisions through joint decision-making processes rather than specific schedule commitments.
Kaiser emphasized that while the gap between its offer (21.5%) and the union’s request (25%) may appear small numerically—a difference of 3.5%—it translates into $300 million annually when applied across all affected employees’ salaries without factoring in related benefit increases.
