31,000 Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health care workers strike for better wages and staffing

SAN FRANCISCO AP An estimated registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente healthcare care workers went on strike Tuesday to demand better wages and staffing from the California-based medical care giant Organizers say the five-day strike across curative centers and offices in California Hawaii and Oregon is the largest in the -year history of the United Nurses Associations of California Union of Vitality Care Professionals The strike could grow to include people Those on strike including pharmacists midwives and rehab therapists say wages have not kept pace with inflation and there is not enough staffing to keep up with individual demand They are asking for a wage increase over four years to make up for wages they say are at least behind their peers Kaiser Permanente has countered with a increase over four years The company says that represented employees earn on average more than their peers and it would have to charge customers more to meet strikers pay demand The company revealed fitness clinics and hospitals will remain open during the strike with certain in-person appointments shifted to virtual appointments and selected elective surgeries and procedures being rescheduled Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation s largest not-for-profit medical plans serving million members at physiological offices and hospitals in largely western U S states It is based in Oakland California Source