Thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care workers went on strike this morning, Wed., Oct. 4 at hospitals and medical offices in San Diego and across the country.
Kaiser has failed to reach a deal with a coalition of unions to renew a contract that expired Sept. 30. Union leaders are fighting for more staffing and higher annual pay raises, arguing their wages have not kept up with the rising cost of living and inflation.
The plan is for a 3-day protest and will involve about 75,000 workers across hundreds of Kaiser medical facilities — making it the largest health care strike in U.S. history, according to the unions.
Axios San Diego reports:
In San Diego, the workers’ strike started at 6am at Kaiser’s Zion Medical Center, San Diego Medical Center, and medical offices in La Mesa, San Marcos and Otay Mesa.
The nearly 4,500 local employees include nurses, radiology and X-ray technicians, ultrasound sonographers, housekeepers and hundreds of other positions.
Thousands of replacement workers arrived at San Diego-area hotels this week to step in for protesters, which do not include registered nurses and doctors, the Union-Tribune reported.
Local hospitals, emergency departments, pharmacies and urgent cares will remain open, according to Kaiser.
The main complaints of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are that the health care giant is responsible for low pay and chronic understaffing, which the unions cite for causing long wait times for appointments and delays in patient care services.
Contract negotiations are ongoing with the strike set to end Saturday at 6am.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As someone who spent 17 years serving on trauma teams as a Radiology Tech in the primary trauma centers in this County I have a strong grasp on the “why’s”. And both of the biggest drivers behind the Nurses strike can be attributed to the Politico-Corporate Monopolization of Housing, and specifically Todd Gloria’s legislation that has accelerates it to serve Democratic Oligarchs.
1.) Gloria’s pro corporate monopolization Build-to-Rent profit apparatus have chased healthcare workers from San Diego, and hospitals can’t and don’t pay them enough to live here and pursue happiness, nor security.
2.) The most stressful complaint is having to work SHORTHANDED day in day out, and it just gets worse on the 5th of each month.
If you cannot buy a home on your salary it’s a job, not a career. Teachers, Cops, Fire Fighters, Nurses, Surgical Techs, Radiology Techs and ancillary staff cannot afford the continued politico-Real Estate market manipulation that bleeds San Diego dry of critical infrastructure needed for a healthy citizenry. We lose our sense of community when we lose these vibrant neighbors, friends and family as they pack up and head out.
Ask yourself, “how many longtime residents, or 2nd and/or 3rd generation San Diegans have you had to say good-bye to since 2005?
Health care strike over pay and staff shortages heads into third day KPBS