By Leah Cruz
Staff Writer
Tens of thousands of healthcare employees of Kaiser Permanente walked out their jobs onto the streets in multiple states for a strike that began on Oct. 4, according to The New York Times. The strike comes in response to staffing shortages experienced by Kaiser hospitals and medical facilities all over the country.
With over 75,000 participants in California, Colorado, Oregon, Virginia, Washington and Washington D.C., this strike is the largest healthcare strike the U.S. has ever seen. The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, which represents about 85,000 American healthcare employees, approved the arranged three-day strike, according to AP News.
“I’ve been here 33 years and I’ve never seen it like this,” said Lisa Floyd, a lab assistant and a member of the negotiating committee. “Kaiser used to pride itself on being the best place to work and the best place to get care. It doesn’t feel like that anymore. It feels like they’ve lost their way.”
Union staff members on picket lines all over the country include x-ray technicians, medical assistants, sanitation workers, receptionists and pharmacists. As a result of these walkouts, Kaiser officials have warned that non-urgent procedures and appointments may be pushed back.
Kaiser has announced that its 39 hospitals and emergency rooms will remain open throughout the duration of the strike as doctors and nurses continue to staff facilities.
Healthcare workers are demanding better pay, with a $25 per hour minimum wage, in order to keep up with the increasing costs of living, and thousands of new hires to fill vacancies and secure full staffing for each of its facilities, Reuters reports.
Kaiser has stated that the company would “reconvene bargaining as soon as possible.” No contract deals have been reached as of Oct. 10.
Staffing shortages have become prevalent among many hospitals and care facilities across the country as the pandemic has left many healthcare professionals experiencing burnout and fatigue.
According to a survey conducted by the AMN Healthcare Services in January, one-third of nurses in the U.S. have considered leaving their jobs due to feeling overwhelmed and overworked as a result of the pandemic.
Kaiser data obtained by the unions reports that about 11% of union positions were left vacant this year in April, raising concerns about the conditions in which understaffed hospitals create for the healthcare workers and the decreasing quality of care for the patients in Kaiser medical facilities.
“Health care workers choose this profession because it's a passion for them. It's a calling,” said Caroline Lucas, executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. “And folks don’t feel comfortable staying at jobs where they don't feel like they can give the best patient care possible.”
As employees picketed outside a medical center in San Francisco, The New York Times reported the experience of Edward Lopez-Matus, who works 40 hours a week as an Uber driver to supplement his full-time income as a medical assistant.
“My entire paycheck goes to rent,” said Lopez-Matus, who is now working as an assistant to two doctors instead of one due to staffing shortages.
The conditions of hospitals and care facilities continue to affect both patients and employees as the understaffing of workers forces professionals to work double than what they should and deprives patients from receiving full high quality care.
Reina Jeronimo, a sophomore journalism student at the College, spoke to The Signal about her mother’s experience as a healthcare worker who was flown out to California to fill the positions of those employees on strike.
Dawn Jeronimo, 45, is a Certified Medical Assistant at the Vascular and Vein Center of N.J. in Eatontown, New Jersey. Jeronimo, though not an employee of a Kaiser facility, was flown out to California by Kaiser to work as a medical assistant in the organization's medical center in Los Angeles.
Jeronimo was part of a group of approximately 7,000 healthcare employees that were recruited by Kaiser to temporarily replace the nurses and medical staff throughout the duration of the strike.
“I can honestly say at the end of the day everyone needs to be heard and respected,” she told The Signal.
Though only lasting three days, the hope for healthcare workers is that the strike against Kaiser Permanente will provoke positive changes and leave a lasting impact for employees and patients nationwide.
