SPOKANE, Wash. — The largest healthcare strike in U.S. history may reach even greater numbers by November.
Around 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across several states were back on the job Monday after a three-day work stoppage the week before. The strikers are asking for pay increases and a remedy to staffing shortages.
The strike did not include workers from Kaiser Permanente Washington, but that could change come Friday.
SEIU Healthcare 1199NW announced Monday it will vote to authorize an unfair labor practice strike Oct. 13. If approved, union members in Washington will join the national strike Nov. 1.
Jane Hopkins, SEIU Healthcare 1199NW president and registered nurse, said in a statement:
“This is an historic moment for our union, joining in solidarity with healthcare workers and their unions all across the country, using our collective strength to fight for healthcare workers and patients. If our members vote yes this week to authorize a strike we’ll be joining tens of thousands of healthcare workers across the nation to increase pressure on Kaiser Permanente to address the staffing crisis it helped create. The thousands of Washington healthcare workers in SEIU Healthcare 1199NW are proud to stand with our union siblings as we fight together for a fair contract that ensures safety for our members and better care for patients.”
Around 3,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are represented by SEIU Healthcare 1199NW, including about 100 in the Spokane area, according to Jack Sorenson, a spokesperson for the union.
The union has been negotiating new contracts since August. One of the chief concerns are what the union calls unsafe staffing levels.
"Central to the KPWA negotiations are healthcare workers’ concerns about unsafe staffing levels that could lead to dangerously long wait times, misdiagnoses, and neglect. After years of the COVID pandemic and chronic understaffing, KPWA healthcare workers are calling on management to bargain in good faith to reach a contract that will help provide safe staffing levels," a press release stated.
Some workers with a different union in Vancouver, Wash. did join the nationwide strike. Sorenson says SEIU 1199NW represents the remainder of Kaiser Permanente Washington's workers. Their contracts don't expire until the end of October.
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