That’s up from 24% of major strikes in 2019, the year before the pandemic. Its count shows a third of those strikes were in the health care industry. And the health care sector has seen much of the strike activity, with unions and their members complaining about pay and staffing shortages impacting the quality of care.įrom the start of 2022 through August of this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked 42 work stoppages of 1,000 or more strikers.

The tentative agreement comes during heightened union activity in the United States. According to its website, Kaiser Permanente has 12.7 million members and operates 39 hospitals and 622 medical offices. Unlike a fee-for-service health care model, in which doctors and other providers are paid for each service performed, Kaiser Permanente patients or their employers pay a membership fee to access Kaiser Permanente’s wide range of health care services. Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health providers. Nearly 4,000 members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike at Mack Trucks early Monday after membership there overwhelmingly rejected an 11th hour deal reached a week earlier. It is not uncommon in recent years for rank-and-file union members to reject tentative deals reached between union negotiators and management. If they vote “no,” another strike could still happen. Rank-and-file members of the union will get to vote on the tentative labor agreement with their employer. It also represents hospital support staff, including maintenance and janitorial staff as well as food services. The union coalition represents 40% of Kaiser Permanente’s non-physician workforce and includes a wide range of medical workers, including EMTs, X-ray technicians, nursing assistants and respiratory care practitioners. According to the coalition, Kaiser Permanente management agreed to raise wages by 21% over four years in all Kaiser locations and establish a new health care worker minimum wage: $25 per hour in California and $23 per hour in other states where Kaiser operates.Īt a news briefing with Su and representatives from Kaiser Permanente and the coalition of unions, Kaiser Permanente said it had agreed to accelerate hiring, furthering its commitment to address a critical staffing shortage that some employees said contributed to feelings of burnout.ĭuring the briefing, Dave Regan, the president of SEIU-UHW, the largest union in the coalition, said that the tentative agreement includes an annual bonus program for unionized workers tied to the success of two metrics: the number of patients who receive preventative vaccinations, like the flu vaccine, and the amount that total blood pressure is reduced among Kaiser Permanente patients. While a full picture of the tentative deal was not immediately available, some details were released Friday. But the coalition of unions was threatening an eight-day strike next month with even more workers walking out if a new deal was not reached by October 31. The strike last week lasted only three days, the length of time it had been scheduled to run. Labor Secretary Su,” it said in its tweet.

We are thankful for the instrumental involvement of Acting U.S.

“We are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with the frontline health care workers of the union coalition. The company also thanked Su its tweet about the deal. “We are thankful for the instrumental support of Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su.” “The frontline healthcare workers of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions are excited to have reached a tentative agreement with Kaiser Permanente,” the union coalition said on X. Kaiser Permanente reached a tentative deal with the unions representing 75,000 employees, following the largest-ever health care strike in US history.

Kaiser strike