Frustrated by low pay and inadequate staffing, 48,000 nurses, lab techs, and other health care workers have authorized a strike at Kaiser Permanente. The unions representing most of those workers announced Oct. 3 that they would go on strike Oct. 14 for up to five days.
The strike would include nearly 4,000 workers in four units represented by the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP). With 92% turnout, those units voted 97% to authorize a strike in ballots tallied Sept. 19.
OFNHP is part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents 62,000 Kaiser workers in 23 local unions in eight states and Washington, D.C. Of those, 52,000 have contracts that expire Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, meaning they could go on strike after that point.
Including the 4,000 OFNHP workers, 48,000 workers in the Alliance have voted to authorize strikes. The Alliance negotiates a national contract that applies to workers represented by all member unions, while member unions also negotiate contracts for their units.
OFNHP Secretary Nick Eng, a nurse working in surgery at Kaiser Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, said raises under the last contract didn’t keep up with inflation. Kaiser proposed a two-tier wage system during 2021 bargaining, a classic union-busting move to divide a workforce by paying new hires less than more senior workers. Two days before workers were to go out on strike, Kaiser dropped its two-tier proposal. But the agreement that Alliance members ratified raised wages just 10% over four years.
Kaiser’s Sept. 12 wage proposal included 20% raises over four years, starting with 6.5% effective Oct. 1, and additional 401(k) contributions for the next two years. The Alliance is seeking 27% over four years, starting with 13% on Oct. 1.
Eng said workers are also seeking staffing and scheduling improvements that would give providers more time with their patients. Providers like physical therapists and nurse practitioners are being double-booked, scheduled for virtual visits with patients whose health needs require hands-on care, and expected to see too many patients in too little time, Eng said.
“That is a very big and important issue — not just for OFNHP but for all 62,000 of us in the Alliance — that people get the right amount of time, in the right place, in the right way, with our patients,” Eng said.
National bargaining so far has resulted in agreements on artificial intelligence (AI) and technology, but the Alliance and Kaiser were still in negotiations over staffing and economic issues as of press time.
The agreements on AI and technology include creating a task force to bring unions into discussions about new uses of AI early on and securing providers’ ability to intervene if AI recommendations on patient care go against their clinical judgment.
Eng said there will be opportunities for Kaiser — a pioneer of the electronic medical record — to make advancements with AI, but those innovations will have to come through consultation with workers.
A strike would likely include all Alliance units that have authorized strikes but could just include the OFNHP units, OFNHP spokesperson Shane Burley said.
The four OFNHP units preparing for a strike are two units of nurses, one unit of laboratory workers, and one unit of professionals like physical therapists and social workers.
International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 28 represents 114 Kaiser security officers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Local 28 members voted 92% to authorize a strike in ballots counted Sept. 27, but the unit wouldn’t go out on strike until its contract expires in April 2026, Local 28 president Gregory Chavez said.
OFNHP also represents two Kaiser units with contracts that expire in October 2026, so they wouldn’t go on strike this year. One of those units is dental hygienists; the other is technical workers like the surgical assistants that Eng works with in the operating room.
Eng said some workers not being able to go on strike is an additional challenge.
“Nobody wants to go on strike, but if you’re doing that, there is an emotional, cathartic element to walking out and demonstrating and lighting up your grievances with your employer for the public to see,” Eng said.
Under federal law, health care workers must give at least 10 days notice before going on strike.
