Hundreds of Kaiser Permanente nurse midwives and registered nurse anesthetists at more than 20 Northern California hospitals are planning a one-day strike over staffing levels and other contract issues next month. The 24-hour strike is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Sept. 8, according to officials with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. “We’re not only fighting for fair treatment at work — we’re demanding the staffing, resources, and respect that make safe, expert care possible,” said registered nurse Charmaine Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP, which represents 40,000 health care professionals in California and Hawaii.
The strike will include 600 certified nurse midwives and certified registered nurse anesthetists at Kaiser Permanente facilities in various Central Valley and Northern California cities, including Sacramento, Fresno and throughout the Bay Area. The nurses are in the middle of contract talks with the hospital system over pay and benefit packages. If successful, it would be the first union contract for the nurse midwives since they joined UNAC/UHCP in 2024 and for the nurse anesthetists since they joined in 2023. The nurses are also trying to get Kaiser executives to address “unsafe staffing, burnout and the risk to patient care,” union officials said in a news release Friday. “When positions are left unfilled, patients wait longer for help, complications get missed, and outcomes suffer,” union officials said. Kaiser officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Picket lines are scheduled for Sept. 8 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center and clinics at 1600, 1640 and 1660 Eureka Road in Roseville, and Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center at 3600 and 3701 Broadway in Oakland.
Another Kaiser nurse strike!? I support all nurses but it seems like every 6 months they’re striking about something…. can’t get behind them this often – negotiate your issues to be long lasting or strike till you get to a negotiated settlement – for longer than 6 months
… interesting but why is it others that may have that many don’t strike as often? Kaiser is SEIU – from personal experience they tend to strike / negotiate more often
if you saw a group photo the whole thing would make sense.
They DO realize that nursing staffing in EVERY hospital is poor, right? And that money will not fix that? Instead, Kaiser staff should have fought against taking Medicaid patients. THAT would help their numbers more than hiring more staff (that do not exist). And when they took all those folks who do not pay for their care a few years ago, everything at Kaiser started to go in the trash.
Medicare and Medicare also screws the patient that got hurt ,files a lawsuit and now gets paid based on what the doctor recieved (10 cents on the dollar) not what the bills are,which was the old way,and you got far more in an injury lawsuit.Ins minimums are so low it wont even cover all the damage now,and you wont get anything,and some of your bills will be paid and youll be indebt the rest of your life,all because og greasy Gavins love for illegals.He knows anyone smart doesnt like him so he sticks to the peanut gallery.
Like I’ve said a few times before: …. I wouldn’t take my dog or cat to Kaiser!!!
The article states that this is an issue for the midwives and registered nurse anesthetists, not neccessarily all nurses. I would be underinformed if I were to presume to have an opinion on the issue at hand.
What I can say is that I have been through some very serious and life changing experiences with the HMO, and have met some stellar surgeons and some amazing ICU nurses who kept my loved one comfortable and cared for.
I know we are talking about a select group of nurses, but I would expect that they are hard working and dedicated individuals, and should have an opportunity to be acknowledged.
.02
what strikes me (no pun intended) is that both of these disciplines of nurses joined the “union” last year and the year before. One year to strike? I am unaware of what the nurses are paid, but an increase in pay for them (most likely deservedly so) means an increase in the cost of healthcare. My opinion, it was a mistake for the nurses to join the union.