Health Care Workers Picket U.S. Hospitals

Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers went on strike, staging picket lines in many U.S. states on Wednesday, initiating a massive strike that the company warned could cause delays at its hospitals and clinics, serving nearly 13 million Americans, as reported by Stefanie Dazio and Damian Dovarganes for the Associated Press (AP).

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing approximately 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationwide, approved a three-day strike in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington. I Photo: Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions Facebook

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing approximately 85,000 of the health system’s employees nationwide, approved a three-day strike in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.

Around 75,000 people were expected to participate in the pickets.

This includes approximately 180 workers from facilities in Virginia and Washington, D.C., who planned to picket for only one day since many had to travel long distances to gather in Springfield, Virginia, on Wednesday, as stated by Local 2 Secretary-Treasurer Sarah Levesque.

Most of the facilities are located in California, where numerous workers picketed outside hospitals.

Jacquelyn Duley, a radiologic technologist among the hundreds of picketers at Kaiser Permanente Orange County - Irvine Medical Center, expressed, "Kaiser has not been bargaining with us in good faith, and so it's pushing us to come out here and strike. We want to be inside just taking care of our patients."

The Oakland, California-based nonprofit company stated that its 39 hospitals, including emergency rooms, would remain open. Doctors are not participating, and Kaiser said it was bringing in thousands of temporary workers to fill the gaps.

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