Kaiser strike over, union and management return to contract talks

Registered nurses and other unionized health care workers at more than 500 Kaiser Permanente hospitals and clinics in California, Oregon and Hawaii agreed to end a five-day strike yesterday as planned and return to the bargaining table on a new contract.

The coalition of unions, represented by the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP), has been advocating for increased wages, better retirement benefits and more robust staffing at Kaiser health care centers. But Kaiser Permanente said in a statement that the main issue was wages.

The union coalition represents the roughly 31,000 employees in a range of positions that include pharmacists, optometrists, physical and speech therapists, lab technicians and more who walked off the job on Tuesday. 

The unions called for a five-day work stoppage lasting through yesterday. In the Bay Area, workers went on strike and picketed at Oakland Medical Center and Santa Clara Medical Center.