California Kaiser Health Care Workers, Reaching ‘Breaking Point,’ Set to Strike Next Week

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses and employees plan to walk off the job on Tuesday over wage and staffing level concerns that they say have been unaddressed as the healthcare organization’s operations expand.

The walkout, which is expected to last five days, could bring disruptions to dozens of clinics and hospitals in California and Hawaii, according to one of the unions launching the strike.

Representatives for Kaiser, which employs about 180,000 people in California, said that in the event of a work stoppage, impacted facilities will remain open. Physicians will continue to see patients aided by trained managers and contingency staff, including licensed temporary nurses.

“We take any threat to services seriously, and our patients remain our priority,” Lionel Sims, vice president of human resources at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California, said in a statement.

The standoff comes as Kaiser unveiled another round of layoffs targeting hundreds of workers in the state, including 184 employees primarily in IT and food services in Northern California who were notified recently, the organization said. The job losses and walkout are not connected, according to Kaiser.

Since May, the Alliance of Healthcare Unions and Kaiser have been negotiating a new nationwide labor contract covering nearly 61,000 employees. Several of the 23 unions that form the Alliance notified Kaiser about their intent to strike, including the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, which represents about 31,000 registered nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants and other health care professionals largely based in California.

Union officials said the walkout, which is set to end at 7 a.m. on Sunday, is necessary to protect patients and their caregivers, who are struggling with short staffing and stagnant wages and benefits, as many professionals lack pensions. They warned that Kaiser’s failure to sufficiently invest in its workforce is leading to delays in appointments, treatment and recovery for patients.

“Our patients are waiting longer, and our caregivers are stretched to the breaking point, and Kaiser executives are sitting on billions,” Joe Guzynski, executive director at UNAC/UHCP and a lead negotiator, said in a statement.

Staffing levels remain a top concern for hospital employees nationwide due to burnout and turnover, especially for nurses, according to experts.

Kaiser Permanente, headquartered in Oakland, posted $63.9 billion in operating revenue and nearly $2 billion in operating income for the first half of 2025, slightly higher than for the same period last year. The health organization and its affiliates, with about 12.6 million members, have been acquiring hospital systems in recent years, including in Pennsylvania and North Carolina.

Sims dismissed claims that Kaiser is putting the quality of patient care at risk, citing top ratings for its Medicare and commercial health plans. The threat of a walkout, he said, aims to pressure Kaiser to agree to union demands for a 25% pay increase over four years. The organization’s latest offer adds up to 21.5% and improves medical plans and retiree benefits, Sims said, showing that the private nonprofit health plan values its employees as it tries to keep care affordable for patients.

“They say their goal is to protect patients by ensuring better care and staffing, but the real issue is wages — they are demanding significantly higher increases than our 21.5% offer,” Sims said. “Their claims about Kaiser Permanente’s quality and staffing don’t reflect the facts.”

According to the employer, the organization meets and often exceeds California’s mandated nurse-to-patient ratios and staffing standards.

Kaiser’s offer includes gradual raises of 6.5% in 2025, 6.5% in 2026, 4% in 2027 and 3% in 2028, according to the Alliance. The union has proposed a boost of 13% in 2025, 6% in 2026, 4% in 2027 and 4% in 2028.

Peter Sidhu, UNAC/UHCP executive vice president, said the union agreed to much lower wage increases in contract negotiations during the COVID-19 pandemic, because Kaiser maintained it was struggling financially. As a result, he said, the union’s members were left behind as inflation soared and other employees who went on strike got bigger pay boosts.

“We’re not just negotiating for today’s needs. We’re negotiating for the inflation that our members have had,” Sidhu, who worked for Kaiser for more than 20 years as a critical care nurse, told KQED. “And during that time, we’ve lost a lot of staff. There’s been a mass exodus. So in order for us to catch up and be competitive in this market, we need more than what they’re offering.”

KQED’s Kevin Stark contributed to this story.