31K To Strike Again At CA Hospitals: What To Know

LOS ANGELES, CA — Some 31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health care workers are set to strike across California and Hawaii later this month amid an impasse in contract negotiations.

The strike, which is set to begin on Jan. 26, will mark the second work stoppage by members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals in recent months.

But unlike the strike in October, the union has not indicated how long workers will remain off the job — resulting in a possibility that this may be longer than the previous five-day work stoppage. At the time, the union said that strike was the largest in its history.

The strike will include nearly 20 hospitals and 200 clinics, the vast majority in of which are in California. Participating workers include registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists and dietitians, according to the union.

The union on Thursday informed Kaiser executives that its members plan to strike: By law, the workers must provide 10 days notice for work stoppages, according to labor leaders.

The notice follows areport released by the union that questions what it describes as Kaiser's billions of dollars in reserves and plans for expansion while patients are being harmed by "chronic understaffing and delayed access to care."

UNAC/UHCP's contract with Kaiser expired at the end of September; negotiations for a new contract have been underway since May. The union struck days after the contract expired amid a dispute over wages, staffing levels and other matters.

The sides returned to the bargaining table after October's five-day strike. The Mercury News reported at the end of December that it appeared Kaiser had not budged on its offer of a 21.5% wage increase over four years, while the union continued to seek a 25% raise over the same period.

In October, Kaiser leaders said any rise higher than what it was offering would lead to higher costs for KP members and customers "at a time when health care costs are increasingly unaffordable and many are having to make the difficult choice to go without coverage."

That month, the union filed a complaint against Kaiser at the National Labor Relations Board, claiming that the employer unlawfully walked away from negotiations. A Kaiser representative told the Mercury News the decision came after a labor leader tried to "coerce" the company with unspecified damaging information about the company.

"We made this difficult decision following a union leader’s actions that have compromised the National Bargaining process and undermined both parties’ ability to continue good faith bargaining, the Kaiser announced in written statement in December.

The union says that's a "feigned concern about the union's lawful and protected communication" that executives used as a pretext to halt negotiations.

“Kaiser can end this whenever they choose by coming back to the table and bargaining in good faith," union president and registered nurse Charmaine S. Morales said in a statement. "Until they do, we are done waiting. Striking is the lawful power of working people, and we are prepared to use it on behalf of our profession and patients.”

Patch has reached out to Kaiser for comment.

While those wage increases are some of the major points of contention on the national bargaining table, local unions — whose workers are also covered by national contracts — are also negotiating parallel agreements with Kaiser.

That includes a group of locals known as the "Blue Book," which together represent 22,000 registered nurses, nurse practitioners and physician's assistants in Southern California. The bargaining team is made up of the presidents of the region's locals, including Kimberly Mullen, an inpatient nurse at Kaiser South Bay Medical Center.

She said staffing ratios, workload and scheduling are among the major issues her team has focused on in its negotiations.

"The most important thing to me — I've been a nurse for 17 ½ years — I want enough time, enough staff and enough resources to give patients the care they deserve. I do not have it. Because I don't have it, my coworkers don't have it, we've been having to do more and more and more with less and less and less — the patients suffer," she told Patch.

Mullen and her colleagues are among those who will be striking beginning Jan. 26.

Picketing is set to begin at 7 a.m. that day at the following California Kaiser locations:

• Oakland Medical Center
• Roseville Medical Center
• Santa Clara Medical Center
• Anaheim Medical Center
• Irvine Medical Center
• Downey Medical Center
• South Bay Medical Center
• Kaiser Stockdale Medical Offices (Bakersfield)
• Lancaster Medical Office Building
• Panorama City Medical Center
• Woodland Hills Medical Center
• Los Angeles Medical Center
• West Los Angeles Medical Center
• Baldwin Park Medical Center
• Riverside Medical Center
• Fontana Medical Center
• Ontario Medical Center
• San Marcos Medical Center
• Zion Medical Center (San Diego)
• San Diego Medical Center