The workers' union, Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West, said if its 75,000 members take to the picket lines, it could be the nation's largest ever healthcare strike.
Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, said in a news release Monday: "Kaiser executives are refusing to listen to us and are bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis,"
The two sides met Monday, but if talks fail, workers at Kaiser hospitals and clinics in California, Colorado, Washington, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. will strike.
The union represents roughly 19,000 Kaiser workers in the Bay Area, including licensed vocational nurses, emergency department technicians, radiology technicians, ultrasound sonographers, teleservice representatives and respiratory therapists, among others.
In addition to the SEIU-UHW workers, two other unions representing roughly 14,000 members -- Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20 and Professional Employees International Union Local 29 -- have authorized a sympathy strike.
Kaiser and the union have been negotiating over several items since April, including wage increases, starting salaries, hiring practices and workforce development, among other things.
