SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — About 31,000 registered nurses and other health care workers at Kaiser Permanente went on strike Tuesday to demand better pay and staffing from the California health care giant.
Organizers say the five-day strike at 500 medical centers and offices in California, Hawaii and Oregon is the largest in the 50-year history of the California United Nurses Association/Healthcare Workers Union. 46,000 people could take part in the strike.
The strikers, including pharmacists, midwives and rehabilitation therapists, say wages have not kept pace with inflation and there are not enough staff to meet patient demand.
They are asking for a 25% pay rise over four years to offset wages they say lag behind their peers by at least 7%.
Kaiser Permanente responded with an increase of 21.5% over four years. The company says represented employees earn on average 16% more than their peers and will have to charge customers more to meet strikers' pay demands.
The company said medical clinics and hospitals will remain open during the strike, with some in-person appointments moving to virtual and some elective surgeries and procedures being rescheduled.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation's largest not-for-profit health plans, serving 12.6 million members in 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals primarily in the western United States. He is based in Oakland, California.
