More than 1,500 local healthcare workers and their families lined the sidewalks along Clairemont Mesa Boulevard last week during statewide strikes.
Now, community support is continuing on after strikes have ended, with both sides agreeing to return to the bargaining table – with renewed optimism after medical accreditation organization The Joint Commission released updated standards on staffing during the strike.
That move “will reshape the landscape of contract negotiations moving forward,” said the United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals coalition, which organized and led the five-day strike at Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center and hundreds of other facilities.
Across California, Oregon and Hawaii, some 31,000 Kaiser Permanente workers were on strike for a total of five days. Workers were attempting to negotiate increased wages to keep up with inflation – and a staff that is robust enough to keep up with patient demand.
The coalition expressed optimism about returning to negotiations after The Joint Commission, an independent organization that provides oversight and accreditation to health facilities and programs, released new standards on staffings during the strike, which “will reshape the landscape of contract negotiations moving forward,” the coalition said.
“The Joint Commission has finally said what nurses have known all along: Unsafe staffing is unsafe care,” said UNAC/UHCP President Charmaine S. Morales, RN, in a statement.
“Employers like Kaiser can no longer treat staffing like a budget line. It’s now a national patient safety mandate – and UNAC/UHCP will make sure it’s enforced.”
Ashley Serrano, a registered nurse at Kaiser, was on a frontline of the strike in San Diego. She handed out wristbands at registration tables even as rain dampened the evening.
Serrano is one of many nurses pushing for contract negotiations. “I’m here to fight for better staffing of our patients. There’s just not enough of us anymore,” she said. “I’ve been a nurse with Kaiser for 12 years, and I’ve just kind of been watching it go downhill steadily, and it’s really reached kind of a peak since COVID.”
Serrano works in labor and delivery, a rewarding but fast-paced environment not without dangers. With understaffing comes increased risks to patient outcomes. Serrano stresses that when there aren’t enough people around to help, patients’ lives are on the line.
The strike lasted until Sunday, but its outcome remains in question.
Becca Shultz is a charge nurse in a medical surgical unit at Kaiser. Shultz went to the strikes with her husband and most of her unit, echoing concerns of similar staffing issues.
“We don’t have enough staff, Kaiser has whittled away all my resources, especially over the last three years… the staff is getting burnt out, and it’s not safe for our patients,” Shultz said.
Initial demands from UNAC/UHCP included a 25% wage increase over four years, the establishment of a new minimum wage rate in Southern California and Hawaii, and changes to benefits. The original proposal also highlighted a need to address staffing shortages.
In the latest offer, Kaiser countered with a 21.5% wage increase over four years, but UNAC/UHCP has not accepted those terms.
In a release, Kaiser claimed that a 25% wage increase would not be feasible in the current economic climate.
“The seemingly small percentage difference between the 2 proposals actually means significantly more because it is multiplied across 60,000 employees and causes related benefit increases over 4 years,” the statement said.
Their 21.5% counter translates to a $2 billion addition to payroll over four years.
Neda Sarijlou Moghaddam has been working for Kaiser as a pharmacist since 2007.
“I think one of the main reasons why we’re all here, is because four years ago, we never got a fair contract because Covid happened,” Moghaddam said. “Everybody was so fatigued and so tried of fighting.”
Pharmacists care for up to 48 patients in eight hours, Moghaddam explained.
“I’ve seen it all, and I know that every single person out here right now gives 200% when they’re taking care of their patient, and they’re giving 200% here to tell the world that we deserve to be treated better by Kaiser.”
UNAC/UHCP has expressed that they are not willing to settle until Kaiser offers an acceptable counter.
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