DOWNEY, Calif. – Thousands of Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers are halfway through their five-day strike, expressing optimism and determination as they call attention to staffing shortages and patient care concerns.
What we know:
Thursday marks three of the five-day strike involving Kaiser Permanente employees across multiple facilities, including the Downey Medical Facility. The strike, described as one of the largest healthcare labor actions in years, includes registered nurses, pharmacists, physical and occupational therapists, and other healthcare professionals.
Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Healthcare Unions have been in contract negotiations since May. Workers began walking off the job earlier this week to demand better staffing and improved patient care conditions. According to union members, the strike is not yet about wages but about ensuring safe staffing levels to support patients effectively.
Kaiser officials, however, maintain that their hospitals and medical offices will remain open and staffed during the strike.
The other side:
Kaiser Permanente released a statement, saying in part:
“The strike is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the table. It is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients, the very people who we are all here to serve.”
What they’re saying:
Some workers strongly disagreed, saying the issue is not about pay but about priorities and patient safety.
“I know that everyone’s tired of waiting in urgent care for three to four hours, giving us too much work that we can’t do in a day. It’s about acuity. It’s about care,” one worker told FOX 11.
“We want to support our patients. We’re here for patient care and patient safety. It’s not about economics. It’s about having the right staffing for the different floors, having the right staffing in the clinics, having enough pharmacists there for our patients, having enough therapists so that our patients can go home safely. We’re really here because we’re trying to speak loudly and talk about our chronic understaffing, about how important it is to put our patients’ safety and care quality first,” another worker added.Â
Negotiations between Kaiser Permanente and the Alliance of Healthcare Unions have been ongoing since May, with no resolution announced as of day three.
The Source: This story was written with interviews with Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers, a statement from Kaiser Permanente and previous FOX 11 reports.Â
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