Barring a last-minute deal, more than 75,000 workers with health care giant Kaiser Permanente are set to strike at hundreds of hospitals and medical centers across the country. The walkout would be the largest strike by health care workers in U.S. history.
The dispute centers on what the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents 85,000 Kaiser workers in seven states and the District of Columbia, said is a severe staffing shortage that puts the managed care company’s workers, patients, and workers in jeopardy.
The three-day work stoppage is set to start Wednesday at 9 a.m. Eastern time outside Kaiser medical sites in California, Colorado, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and the nation’s capital. The workers involved include nurses, orderlies, radiology and lab technicians, respiratory therapists, and housekeepers.
