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Kaiser Health Workers Go On Strike. More Than 28,000 In SoCal Alone
Union members picket outside the Kaiser hospital in Baldwin Park on Oct. 4, 2023.
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Jackie Fortiér
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LAist
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Topline:
More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Virginia and Washington D.C. are on a three-day strike.
Who is on strike? In Southern California, more than 28,000 medical assistants, surgical technicians, phlebotomists, pharmacy technicians, respiratory therapists, X-ray technicians and ultrasound sonographers and some nurses, among other unionized health workers, are on strike – that’s about 34% of Kaiser’s Southern California workforce.
"In the Marine Corp. we were taught to leave things better than when we came and I think this strike is doing that right for the future generations to come," said Marco Del Rosario, a 30-year-old physical therapy aide who among those picketing Wednesday morning.
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Why now: The last contract expired Sept. 30, with negotiations continuing over the weekend without reaching a deal.
The backstory: The coalition of union workers want a $25-an-hour minimum wage across the company. Kaiser executives agree there should be an organization-wide minimum, but they’ve proposed $21, and $23 in California. The unions also say chronic understaffing puts patients at risk, which Kaiser denies.
Sophia Calhoun works in member services and has been with the health care company for 29 years. She said she’s frustrated with the chronic understaffing she experiences and that it annoys patients.
“People longer on hold, not enough staff to service them with anything that they may need, may it be the pharmacy, appointments for the doctor’s office, time turn around from the messages they may have left — all types of things,” Calhoun said.
Calhoun added that the Kaiser of today is not the same company she started with almost three decades ago.
“I don’t think it’s so much that we want more money, we deserve more money. We work hard, we work understaffed," she said.
What about Kaiser patients? All Kaiser Permanente hospitals, emergency departments and pharmacies will remain open during the strike. The health care provider said it would contact affected members.
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What's next? Negotiations remained ongoing Wednesday, with Kaiser saying in a statement that there had been "a lot of progress," with agreements reached on "several specific proposals."
"We remain committed to reaching a new agreement that continues to provide our employees with market-leading wages, excellent benefits, generous retirement income plans, and valuable professional development opportunities," the statement added.
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