75K Kaiser Permanente Workers Strike Across US

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Facts

• More than 75K unionized employees at Kaiser Permanente went on strike Wednesday at healthcare facilities in five states, amid a dispute between labor negotiators and the company over staffing levels.¹
• Employees in Virginia and Washington, D.C., California, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon, began striking today in what will be the largest healthcare workers strike in U.S. history.²
• The striking workers include nurses, emergency department technicians, radiology technicians, X-ray technicians, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, pharmacists, and other job functions.³
• Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest nonprofit healthcare providers in the U.S. and serves nearly 13M patients. The strike is driven by a staffing shortage which workers say has worsened working conditions and led to a deterioration in the quality of patient care. According to union data, 11% of union positions at the company were vacant in April of this year.⁴
• The company has said that it has contingency plans to ensure patients continue to receive care during the labor stoppage for its 12.7M patients.⁵
• The collective bargaining agreement for Kaiser employees represented by unions expired on Sept. 30 without a new agreement in place. The company and labor negotiators are still in disagreement over major issues, including wages, but reportedly made headway on topics including outsourcing and subcontracting during recent talks.⁴

Sources: ¹CBS, ²Abc news, ³NBC, ⁴NPR Online News and ⁵CNN.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by NPR Online News. While there's no question that staffing shortages and employee burnout are an issue at Kaiser Permanente, these issues are affecting the entire healthcare industry, not just this company. It is unfair to blame Kaiser for an entire sector's problem. Additionally, Kaiser already has better compensation and benefits packages than most companies.  A strike was unnecessary.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by NBC. Kaiser management failed to adequately address worker's concerns about unsafe staffing levels. Previous negotiations have not been done in good faith and a fair outcome has not yet been achieved. While unfortunate, a strike is necessary to improve working conditions, and staffing levels, which will improve the quality of patient care. This is another example of America's simmering labor movements.

Predictions