Kaiser Permanente Workers Vote Authorize Strike

Kaiser Permanente is one of America’s leading health care providers and they have just authorized a vote to strike. A live announcement took place this morning at the Oregon AFL-CIO Office in Portland.  An official release from Kaiser workers says the employees voted to authorize a strike to protest unfair labor practices by a margin of 98% if no agreement is reached by September 30th.  A spokesperson with Kaiser Sunnyside told KXL shortly before the announcement that “Kaiser Permanente is having a staffing crisis and it needs to stop.”

Kaiser healthcare workers say Kaiser has been bargaining in bad faith, along with simmering staff concerns related to unsafe staffing levels that can lead to dangerously long wait times, mistaken diagnosis, and neglect. After years of the COVID pandemic and chronic understaffing, Kaiser healthcare workers are calling on management to provide better staffing levels and a liveable wage to coincide with inflation.