SAN FRANCISCO — SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A deliberate five-day strike by hundreds of registered nurses and different Kaiser Permanente well being care employees in California, Hawaii and Oregon ended on Sunday, union leaders and the well being care system stated.
California-based Kaiser Permanente stated it welcomed again about 30,000 workers who participated within the strike, which started Tuesday and ended Sunday morning. Its assertion stated its amenities have been “staffed by physicians, skilled managers and skilled employees, together with almost 6,000 contracted nurses, clinicians and others who labored with us through the strike.”
Plans name for bargaining to renew this week, with a deal with “financial points,” the assertion stated. Whereas unions additionally raised staffing and different considerations, “wages are the explanation for the strike and the first concern in negotiations,” the assertion stated.
The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Well being Care Professionals, which represents registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse midwives and different well being care professionals in California and Hawaii, stated in a press release that greater than 500 hospitals and clinics have been impacted by the strike. It stated the strike despatched a message that “affected person care and protected staffing should come first.”
It introduced plans to renew bargaining later this month.
Sarina Roher, president of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Well being Professionals, in a press release stated Kaiser Permanente “can’t repair its staffing and entry disaster with out aggressive wages that retain and recruit the expert professionals our sufferers depend upon.”
Kaiser Permanente is likely one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit well being plans, serving 12.6 million members at 600 medical workplaces and 40 hospitals, largely in western U.S. states.