Nearly 4,000 nurses and other health care workers at Kaiser Permanente in Oregon and southwest Washington have voted 97% in favor of authorizing a strike.
The Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, which represents the workers, said the union has been in contract negotiations with Kaiser since March, but the two sides remain divided over key issues, including wages, staffing levels and scheduling practices.
No strike date has been set yet, but nurses, lab techs, social workers, physical therapists, mental health counselors and other health workers could walk out at Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas, Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro and dozens of clinics across the region.
The union’s contract expires at the end of the month. If no deal is reached by then, union leaders can call a strike at any time, but they have to give Kaiser management 10 days notice before any sort of walkout.
Union leaders say the vote reflects mounting frustration over what they describe as Kaiser’s unwillingness to address concerns about staffing shortages and retention since negotiations began six months ago.
Sarina Roher, president of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, said understaffing puts patient care at risk and urged Kaiser to invest in recruiting and keeping health care workers.
“Cutting frontline care costs is a choice — a choice that’s not in the patients’ best interest,” she said in a statement. “The experts who provide the care must shape the care plans; that’s how patients thrive. Healthcare decisions belong in the hands of those who deliver the care, not those who balance the books.”
The strike authorization comes as part of a broader labor effort involving the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents 62,000 Kaiser employees across eight national unions. To date, unions representing 46,000 workers in multiple states — including California, Washington, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. — have authorized strikes as their contracts near expiration at the end of September and early October.
In a statement, Kaiser Permanente said it has a long track record of working closely with labor unions and employs more union-represented health care workers than any other organization in the country. The health system said it has been bargaining in good faith with the unions on a new labor agreement and called Friday’s strike authorization “disappointing,” saying it could disrupt care while talks are ongoing.
Kaiser also pushed back on the union’s concerns about staffing and quality of care, saying it meets or exceeds required nurse-to-patient ratios and staffing standards. The health giant said it hired more than 6,300 employees last year, including nearly 4,700 front line workers. It also highlighted national recognition for its hospitals and care model, saying its approach delivers better outcomes for patients.
The health system said its latest offer includes a 20% wage increase over four years, including what Kaiser called a “historic first-year raise,” along with enhanced retirement, retiree medical coverage and education programs to support employee career growth.
Both the union and Kaiser said they remain committed to reaching an agreement that benefits both workers and patients.
The potential strike comes amid a series of labor disputes in the health care sector.