“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,” Jessica Cruz, a licensed vocational nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, said in a news release Monday.

Around 19,000 Kaiser employees in the Bay Area are represented by the union, including, among others, licensed vocational nurses, emergency room technicians, radiology technicians, ultrasound sonographers, teleservice representatives, and respiratory therapists.

The reason for their walkout is a shortage of staff, which they claim has resulted in challenging working conditions that are making it harder to retain Kaiser employees while also causing a decline in the quality of care for Kaiser’s patients.

Kaiser recorded a $2 billion profit for the second quarter vs a $1.2 billion deficit for the same period last year. In the second quarter, the nonprofit made $25 billion in revenue.

Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions said in a statement, Health care workers choose this profession because it’s a passion for them. It’s a calling. “And folks don’t feel comfortable staying at jobs where they don’t feel like they can give the best patient care possible.”

Two other unions, Professional Employees International Union Local 29 and Engineers and Scientists of California Local 20, which collectively represent around 14,000 members, have also approved a solidarity strike in addition to the SEIU-UHW employees.

Since April, Kaiser and the union have been in negotiations over a number of issues, including pay raises, starting salary, hiring procedures, and workforce development.

According to the union, Kaiser is seeking to reduce performance bonuses for employees, make it simpler to outsource tasks to “low-wage, for-profit companies,” and has not offered pay that has kept up with inflation.

According to SEIU-UHW representatives, the health care behemoth earned more than $24 billion in profits over the previous five years, and its CEO received a salary of more than $16 million in 2021. Forty-nine other executives also received salaries of more than $1 million each.

What the Kaiser Healthcare strike means for patients.

Patients have been informed by Kaiser that non-emergency and elective services could need to be postponed. In order to ensure that patients have access to medication in the event that outpatient pharmacies temporarily close, the organization is expanding its network of pharmacy locations to include community pharmacies. Kaiser hospitals’ inpatient pharmacies will remain open.

It’s only a brief strike. In any state that joins the strike, Kaiser Permanente employees will report back to work on October 7 at 6 a.m. local time. According to emails from SEIU-UHW, the largest union in the coalition, a “longer, stronger” strike might occur in November if an agreement between the coalition and Kaiser Permanente is not achieved following this strike effort.

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