Kaiser nurses strike over pay and staffing in West Coast and Hawaii

About 31,000 registered nurses and other frontline workers at Kaiser Permanente began a five day strike on Tuesday, Oct. 14, walking off the job at more than 500 hospitals, clinics and offices across California, Oregon and Hawaii to press the nonprofit health system for higher pay and increased staffing. Organizers said the work stoppage, called by the United Nurses Associations of California Union of Health Care Professionals and other locals in the Alliance of Health Care Unions, could expand to as many as 46,000 participants.

Strikers are seeking a 25 percent wage increase spread over four years and new measures to address what they describe as chronic understaffing and patient-safety concerns. Kaiser has offered a 21.5 percent wage increase over four years and said its proposal would enhance health plans and retiree benefits while preserving affordability for members. The two sides have been negotiating to replace a contract that expired at the end of September.

Kaiser said it kept hospitals and clinics open during the action by shifting some in-person visits to telehealth, rescheduling elective procedures and deploying experienced managers, trained staff and nearly 6,000...