Kaiser strike ends, bargaining to resume

After a five-day stoppage, healthcare workers union says it has ‘new momentum.’

- By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ

HEALTHCARE workers make their voices heard outside Downey Kaiser Permanente on Tuesday.

(WILLIAM LIANG For The Times)

A five-day strike that affected hundreds of Kaiser Permanente clinics and hospitals in California and Hawaii came to an end after the union representing workers said it had “newmomentum” to head back to the bargaining table, but no apparent agreement has been reached.

“This strike may be over — but the fight for patient safety is not,” the United Nurses Assns. of California/ Union of Healthcare Professionals, known as UNAC/ UHCP, said in a statement. “Caregivers are returning to work united, energized, and ready to keep up the pressure for a fair contract that puts patients first.”

Kaiser and union officials are to resume bargaining on Wednesday and Thursday.

The union requested a wage increase of 25% over four years, an ask that union officials have said was needed to compensate for the smaller 2% increases workers received in the first year as part of their 2021 contract negotiations.