more than 75,000 health sector employees on strike

This is the latest social conflict in a long list this year. More than 75,000 employees of Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest hospital systems in the United States, began a three-day strike on Wednesday, October 4, to demand better working conditions. Unions are demanding, among other things, salary increases and protections against the outsourcing of services.

This is the most important movement to shake American health services, said the coalition of unions which called for this strike in California, Oregon, Virginia and Washington, among others. It is in line with several resounding strikes observed in recent months in the United States, from the automobile sector to the cinema and television sector, against a backdrop of inflation.

“Share profits with workers”

On the picket lines in Los Angeles, workers described being underpaid and overworked. “Since the pandemic [de Covid-19]many colleagues have left and they have not been replaced”Armando Velasco, radiologist technician, told AFP. “And now we are on the brink of the precipice”, he added. For nurse Kathy Lozoya, the cost of living in Southern California is becoming more and more difficult to bear. “Kaiser Permanente has made billions of dollars in profits, all we ask of Kaiser officials is to share those profits with the workers on the front lines”she said.

Kaiser said Wednesday that “lots of progress” had been made in the negotiations and the parties had reached agreements on “several proposals Tuesday evening”. “Kaiser Permanente management and representatives of the union coalition are still at the negotiating table”according to a press release cited by several media.