More Than 30 Thousand Union Nurses, Support Staff Plan To Strike On Monday Due To Labor Dispute
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - More than 30 thousand Kaiser Permanente employees intend on striking on Monday due to a labor dispute.
After battling the pandemic for more than 20 months, union nurses and support staff are asking for higher pay and better working conditions beginning Monday.
If a deal is not reached between the United Nurses Association of California, Union of Health Care Professionals and Kaiser Permanente, employees plan on not clocking in for work.
"I got an email and a text that they're probably going to on strike Monday," Kaiser member Tony Torres told CBSLA Reporter Stacey Butler said. "They gave me a link to pick up prescriptions at other locations. I ordered all my prescriptions that I needed once I heard about it and they got mailed out."
Beginning Monday, registered nurses, pharmacists, midwives, physical therapists and other health professionals will likely hit the picket line.
If the strike happens, up to 80 thousand healthcare workers who belong to different unions are expected to join the strike in unison, later next week.
Dr. Jim Keany, the head of the emergency room at Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, which is not a Kaiser hospital, believes the effects from a strike could be catastrophic.
"We are worried about Monday if that hits, we don't have that extra capacity especially in OC to absorb the patients that will be put off by not being able to go to Kaiser emergency dept.," Keany said.
