Health Care Workers Stage Labor Day March On Kaiser Permanente

Labor Day marks the end of summer for most, but for workers across Los Angeles, #HotLaborSummer is still heating up.

Hundreds of health care workers and their allies rallied in Los Angeles on Monday, calling for better wages, more staffing and stronger benefits.

Organized by SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, the rally culminated in a march to Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center in Hollywood. In a planned act of civil disobedience, protestors sat in a circle in the middle of Sunset Boulevard outside the hospital to block traffic. Police arrested 25 people.

“We have health care employees leaving left and right, and we have corporate greed that is trying to pretend that this staffing shortage is not real,” said Jessica Cruz, a nurse at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center. She was one of the 25 people arrested.

“We are risking arrest, and the reason why we're doing it is that we need everyone to know that this crisis is real,” Cruz said.

Kaiser Permanente nurse Jessica Cruz protests alongside SEIU-United Healthcare Workers at Labor Day demonstration outside of Kaiser Permanente in Hollywood. Cruz was later arrested for a planned act of civil disobedience.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Workers say staffing shortage and burnout have only worsened since the COVID-19 pandemic. They say a $25 minimum wage would help, along with better benefits and cutting high executive salaries to boost staffing and wages.

From right to left, Jesus Gutierrez, a member of Teamsters Local 396, Elizabeth Garcia, Charles Fagan, Veronica Arambula, optician at Kaiser Antelope Valley, and Michael Arambula.

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Erin Stone

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“It just seems like everybody's saying COVID is over, but we're still dealing with the short staff and just being overworked,” said Veronica Arambula, an optician at Kaiser Antelope Valley. “And just, we’re tired of working so many hours and also our patients, they suffer because we cannot give them the attention that we normally would.”

She said rising prices have made health care workers barely able to scrape by.

“The cost of living, it’s so high right now,” Arambula said. “In a household, you literally have to have like maybe two or three people with the income to be able to survive, to be able to pay mortgage, to be able to buy groceries, to be able to pay for gas, childcare.”

The workers were also calling out the record profits Kaiser made over the last five years — some $24 billion — and the high salaries of executives when lower level workers can barely make ends meet.

SEIU-United Healthcare Workers and activists sit on Sunset Blvd. outside of Kaiser Permanente in a planned act of civil disobedience during a Labor Day protest. 25 people were arrested.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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In a statement released on Friday, Kaiser Permanente stated they “remain committed to bargaining with our Coalition unions in good faith and in the spirit of partnership" and that the hospital chain is "committed to the economic health of our employees."

The divide between how much executives make while everyday workers struggle has been a major theme for labor actions throughout the summer, from school staffers to hotel workers to city employees to UPS drivers to writers and actors. L.A. has been at the center of these protests.

A day of rallies and protests

Monday’s protest on Sunset Boulevard was among several other rallies and celebrations of Labor Day across the region. Thousands of people, including L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, gathered for the 44th annual Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbor Labor Coalition Labor Day Parade and Picnic Rally in Wilmington.

Members of UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents striking hotel workers in L.A. and Orange counties, picketed among holiday travelers at Ontario Airport. Concession workers at the airport say they have been subjected to unfair labor practices.

Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center employee Nancy Mejia protests with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers at a Labor Day protest outside of Kaiser Permanente in Hollywood.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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“I think we're all just tired of struggling and us coming together is we're trying to show that this is not one sided,” Cruz said. “This is not just hotel workers. These are not just city employees. This is everywhere where big companies are making more profits than actually taking care of their people.”

Kaiser Permanente nurse Michele Rodriguez at a Labor Day protest outside of Kaiser Permanente in Hollywood.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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#SolidaritySummer

Michele Rodriguez, a nurse at Kaiser Medical Offices in Pasadena, said health care workers are not only leaving the field, but also not even entering it.

“We're trying to get more nurses into the field, but it's hard because of the wages,” she said. “We have a lot of nurses right now that are actually homeless, living in their cars, trying to make it. We're here for the passion for the patients … It's not about the money, but we need to live. And we need to stay with the standards of the living prices right now.”

Blanca Gallegos, a spokesperson with SEIU local 99 Education Workers United — the group that helped successfully negotiate a new contract with L.A. Unified School District in May — feels the solidarity across workers marks a turning point in the labor movement.

“Everyone is struggling in this city with the same issues,” Gallegos said. “It's about housing, it's about poverty wages, it's about not being recognized for the work that we do. Now it's the moment not just to call us essential and heroes, but to really deliver on the wages and the dignity that workers need in this country.”

She’s calling it #SolidaritySummer instead.