Kaiser Permanente nurses and health care workers in Riverside County joined their counterparts across the state and in Hawaii Friday for the fifth day of an open-ended strike alleging unfair labor practices amid prolonged contract talks.
Nurses at Riverside Medical Center, 10800 Magnolia Ave., are among roughly 31,000 members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals who have vowed to stay on strike until a fair contract agreement is reached. UNAC/UHCP members include registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dietitians and other specialty health care professionals.
The strike began at 7 a.m. Monday.
“We’re striking because Kaiser has committed serious unfair labor practices and because Kaiser refuses to bargain in good faith over staffing that protects patients, workload standards that stop moral injury and the respect and dignity that Kaiser caregivers have been denied for far too long,” said registered nurse Charmaine S. Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP.
“Striking is the lawful power of working people, and we are prepared to use it on behalf of our profession and patients,” Morales said.
A statement released by Kaiser Permanente said it has “proposed 21.5% wage increases — our strongest national bargaining offer ever — and we are prepared to close agreements at local tables now. Employees deserve their raises and patients deserve our full attention, not prolonged disputes.”
Camille Applin-Jones, senior vice president at Kaiser Permanente Southern California, described Kaiser’s latest contract offer as “one of the strongest nursing contract offers in California this year” once step increases and local adjustments are factored in.
“Despite the union’s claims, this strike is about wages. This open-ended strike by UNAC/UHCP is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the table. The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients — the very people we are all here to serve,” Applin-Jones said.
The union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Kaiser with the National Labor Relations Board alleging the company walked away from the bargaining table in December and has attempted to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process. The union had been bargaining with Kaiser since last May.
Picket lines went up Monday at Kaiser hospitals and clinics in Northern California, Central California, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties, as well as in Hawaii.