Over 30,000 Healthcare Workers Begin Strikes in California and Hawaii

About 31,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers began to strike for salary increases and condition improvements in California and Hawaii on Monday morning. 

The Details: The United Nurses Assns. of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP), which has about 40,000 members, announced that its strike would continue until an agreement with Kaiser Permanente is reached. The strike is set to affect hundreds of clinics and over two dozen hospitals; however, patient care is expected to function mostly as normal, while Kaiser falls on contingency plans and temporary staffers.

Negotiations: UNAC/UHCP requested increased salaries of 25% over four years and improved conditions surrounding staffing shortages, during contract negotiations that began before the previous agreements expired on Sept. 30. UNAC/UHCP workers held a strike for five days in October. Kaiser reportedly proposed 21.5% wage increases, but UNAC/UHCP members accused the company of stalling negotiations in December and attempting to intimidate workers against striking. Kaiser accused UNAC/UHCP of attempting "to coerce concessions" by threatening to release allegations of company misconduct. The company filed a lawsuit last week to dismantle the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents UNAC/UHCP and 22 other local unions, and instate local negotiations instead of national ones.

For Context: Another healthcare union strike took place in New York earlier this month, when around 15,000 New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) workers began the largest nurses' strike in New York City history, calling for "safe staffing for [patients], protections from workplace violence, and healthcare for frontline nurses." No agreement was reached as of Monday morning.

How The Media Covered It: News media on the left dominated coverage of this story, likely due in part to conservatives often viewing unions less favorably. However, the story did not see widespread national coverage. While Reuters (Center bias) and New York Post (Lean Right) released brief reports of the strike's waking hours, Los Angeles Times (Lean Left) provided an in-depth and balanced account of the strike, context, and surrounding disagreements.

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