Kaiser health care strike injects nation with another dose of labor tumult

Democrats already working to resolve labor strife in Detroit and Hollywood are now contending with another show of force — the largest U.S. health care strike on record that’s playing out across the country.

About 75,000 Kaiser Permanente employees in five states and Washington, D.C., walked off the job on Wednesday, demanding higher wages and improved staffing levels at facilities that were once overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients and still operate at a pace that the workers say is untenable.

The walkout at the Oakland, Calif.-based health insurer and health care provider comes amid similar action by the United Auto Workers and striking Hollywood actors in the most restive period for organized labor in decades. This strains the daily operations of the nation's multitrillion-dollar health care industry whose long-simmering staffing crisis was exacerbated by a pandemic-fueled exodus. Nurses in New York and elsewhere have since secured major concessions from the industry.

The labor fights are likely to ripple throughout 2024 campaigns as candidates from both parties try to appeal to voters squeezed by stagnant wages and rising inflation, a politically pivotal slice of the electorate.

“It's just sort of a gut reaction to a context that seems increasingly unfair — that contrast between feeling like their work is getting harder at the same time that their companies are doing so well financially,” said Harvard Law School’s Sharon Block, a former Biden administration official.

In California, where the vast majority of the striking Kaiser employees are based, any sustained effects from the protest could pose a new union-related headache for Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose state has been a center of strike activity this summer. The governor has angered union allies recently by vetoing three major pieces of labor-backed legislation, including a proposal to offer unemployment insurance to striking workers. Newsom does not typically work to avert private sector walkouts and as of Wednesday he didn’t appear to have played a role in the Kaiser dispute. Similarly, he did not take a direct role in mediating strikes that halted work in Hollywood this year, although he said he offered his assistance if asked.

Most of the striking Kaiser employees — in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state — are scheduled to be on picket lines through Friday, while a smaller subset of a few hundred workers in Virginia and the nation’s capital will return to work Thursday. The walkout includes licensed vocational nurses and X-ray technicians but not registered nurses or doctors. Emergency medical care is still being performed, but patients have been notified of delays or postponements for other services, according to Kaiser.

Even a short strike is disruptive to hospitals — and their financial health — according to Rutgers University labor studies professor Rebecca Given.

“It doesn't take much to figure out that if the pharmacists, the respiratory therapists, the social workers and the dietary workers are all on strike, it's simply not possible to have a normally functioning health care facility,” said Given, who co-directs its Center for Work and Health.

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said that the work stoppage is the largest ever in U.S. health care industry.

Workers are demanding a $25 per hour minimum wage at Kaiser, plus annual increases over the following four years. Staffing levels are another major concern as the unions believe Kaiser, a nonprofit that pays its top executives multimillion-dollar salaries, is keeping units shorthanded to pad their bottom line, heaping stress on workers and potentially endangering patients.

The existing contract negotiated in 2019 expired on Saturday and union representatives have accused the hospital system of negotiating in bad faith — a charge that only further underscores the tension between the two.

A spokesperson for Kaiser said in a statement it is “committed to reaching a new agreement that continues to provide our employees with market-leading wages, excellent benefits, generous retirement income plans, and valuable professional development opportunities.”

The Kaiser strike extends a stretch of labor activity that has tested Newsom’s relationship with some of California’s most influential political players.

In addition to his unemployment insurance veto, the Democratic governor infuriated the Teamsters union by rejecting a bill that would have slowed the deployment of self-driving trucks.

Newsom has until Oct. 14 to act on a bill boosting health care workers’ wages to $25 an hour. A landmark deal between unions and employers spurred lawmakers to pass it, but his administration did not bless the pact and has flagged the hefty price tag as a concern. A veto could inflame tensions with health care unions.

“The real impetus behind (the bill) was to help solve the health care staffing crisis,” SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West spokesperson Renee Saldana said on Wednesday. “We hope it puts pressure on Kaiser executives and elected officials alike.”

Some California Democrats demonstrated their pro-labor bona fides by joining workers at rallies and on the picket lines. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is running to succeed Newsom as governor in 2026, posted on X, “We stand with our Kaiser healthcare workers,” although she did not join workers on Wednesday.

There’s been a spike in large strikes across the U.S. in recent months. Nearly 200,000 workers were involved in such work stoppages in August, up from a little over 11,000 the year prior, according to preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Hollywood has largely ground to a halt for much of 2023 due to strikes from its unionized writers and actors. The Writers Guild of America hit the picket line in May and returned only last week, while SAG-AFTRA’s work stoppage remains ongoing. A hotel workers’ strike in Los Angeles has further put a spotlight on California, where eye-watering housing prices and the high cost of living have fueled a significant part of workers’ frustration.

Meanwhile the United Auto Workers remain in a staring contest with Detroit’s Big Three car manufacturers, coaxing a recent visit from President Joe Biden to show solidarity with the union. UAW chief Shawn Fain on Friday expanded the strike for a second time as negotiations remain slow going, and roughly 25,000 of its 150,000 members are now on strike.

Shipping giant UPS averted a potentially mammoth nationwide strike this summer after reaching a five-year deal with the Teamsters for more than 330,000 drivers and distribution workers. The pact included pay raises and improvements to employees’ working conditions.

More unrest may be on the horizon. Unions representing approximately 60,000 hospitality workers in Nevada authorized a strike at resort casinos along the Las Vegas Strip after their contract expired mid-September, paving the way for a work stoppage that could affect major sporting events and other tourism draws.

Like Kaiser and others, the casino workers are demanding better pay and working conditions, particularly after the stress the pandemic placed on their particular industry.

Jeremy B. White contributed to this story.