Nurses plan 2-day strike at 21 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California

Nurses who work at 21 Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California plan to hold a two-day strike later this month to continue voicing their concerns about chronic short-staffing and workplace health and safety.

The strike is scheduled for Nov. 21 and 22, and includes Kaiser Permanente medical centers in Sacramento, south Sacramento, Roseville, Modesto, Manteca and Fresno.

The California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, the labor union that represents 21,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners at the 21 medical centers, said the nurses’ strike is to protest Kaiser Permanente’s refusal to address their concerns “with little to no movement on key issues.”

“We always want to give our patients the best care, but Kaiser refuses to provide the resources we need to do our jobs safely,” CNA President Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse in the neonatal ICU Unit at the Roseville medical center, said in a news release. “We are chronically short-staffed, which means patients are waiting longer for care. This is unacceptable and unconscionable when Kaiser made more than $14 billion during the first two years of the pandemic.”

The union, which has been in negotiations for a new labor contract since June, notified Kaiser Permanente on Thursday of its plan for the two-day strike. The nurses union said it always give at least 10 days of advance notice to the hospital to allow for alternative plans to be made for patient care.

Kaiser Permanente has contingency plans if strike happens

Kaiser Permanente officials said they have been making steady progress in labor negotiations, reaching important agreements in bargaining on safety, diversity and other issues. They also said they have contingency plans in place to ensure patients receive the care they need if the union holds its planned strike.

“Our nurses’ dedication to providing expert, compassionate care, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, has been nothing short of inspiring,” Kaiser Permanente officials said Thursday in a written statement sent to The Sacramento Bee. “We are committed to continuing to provide excellent compensation and a work environment committed to well-being, safety, and professional opportunities for our nurses.”

Kaiser Permanente said it put an offer on the table during Thursday’s bargaining session, which includes higher annual raises for nurses than its been able to offer for decades — 21.25% in wage increases over 4 years of the contract.

“It is disappointing to receive a strike notice from CNA for a 2-day strike Nov. 21 and 22, as this tactic is counterproductive and distracts everyone from reaching agreement,” Kaiser Permanente officials said in their statement. “Further, our nurses would prefer to be at the side of our patients as we once again manage through a time when flu and RSV illness are affecting so many patients and COVID-19 is still very real and sickening thousands every day.”

Nurses missing breaks and lunches

The nurses and nurse practitioners said they are urging management to invest in nursing staff and agree to a contract that provides minimum staffing guidelines to ensure safe patient care, increased hiring and training to end chronic short-staffing and job protections against Kaiser Permanente’s subcontracting and outsourcing plans.

“Nurses are missing their breaks and lunches every single day due to short staffing,” Diane McClure, a registered nurse in the post-anesthesia care unit at the south Sacramento medical center. “We need our legally provided breaks so that we are rested and can provide the highest level of care.”

Kaiser Permanente said every health care provider in the nation is “facing staffing shortages and fighting burnout.” But Kaiser officials also said the union’s claims of unsafe staffing levels are not correct, since Kaiser Permanente meets or exceeds state-mandated staffing ratios.

Despite the challenges it faces in Northern California, the medical health provider said it has hired about 3,300 additional nurses since 2021 of which 650 were new graduates hired through its nurse residency program.

“We are committed to reaching an agreement, and do not believe there is any reason for a strike, given the many agreements we have already reached in bargaining, and the generous economic proposal we are putting on the table,” Kaiser Permanente management said. “We are committed to hiring hundreds more additional nurses, in addition to the hundreds we are already bringing on board through aggressive recruitment and hiring, to provide relief for our nurses and address staffing shortages.”

Last month, Kaiser Permanente’s mental health providers voted to ratify a new labor contract that ended the longest strike — nearly 10 weeks — by mental health care workers in U.S. history.

The nurses’ strike later this month also includes picketing at Kaiser Permanente medical centers in Fremont, Vacaville, San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Walnut Creek. The union also represents 1,200 nurses at a Kaiser Permanente medical center in Los Angeles, where nurses also plan on holding a strike Nov. 21 and 22.

“Without enough nurses in both inpatient and outpatient settings, patients are left for hours in the emergency room or receive inadequate and untimely access to outpatient care,” Michelle Vo, a registered nurse in the adult primary care unit at the Fremont medical center. “Our patients deserve better from a corporation that made more than $24 billion over the past five years.