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Kaiser nurses picket over staffing and AI

Striking nurses on the picket line in Santa Clara
Eric P.
/
UNAC/UHCP
Striking nurses on a picket line in Santa Clara

The California Nurses Association held informational pickets at 22 Kaiser sites across California on Tuesday. The nurses say their main demands are better staffing levels and a voice in how Kaiser uses artificial intelligence.

Cathy Kennedy is a former Kaiser Roseville nurse and one of the union's presidents. She says nurses need smaller patient loads to keep up.

"Patients are a lot sicker now," says Kennedy. "And so with that, we know that we have better outcomes when you have less patients so that you can give care to not only the patient, but also family and those things."

In a statement, Kaiser said it meets or exceeds state staffing rules, and its nurses are among the best-paid in the country. The company also stressed the pickets were not a strike and its locations remain open.