OAKLAND, Calif. — Hundreds of Kaiser Permanente workers marched, chanted and picketed in front of Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center here, part of a broader strike that lasted five days, Oct. 14-19. The strike here ended a day earlier than elsewhere.
Over 40,000 nurses, midwives, physical therapists, speech therapists, pharmacists and physician assistants, members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals and other unions, took part. The strike took place in California, Oregon and Hawaii.
“The big issues are staffing and money,” Marcus Tapia, a physical therapist, told the Militant. “I did two tours of duty with the U.S. military in the Middle East and learned people needed help recovering from their injuries. Here it can take up to six weeks to see a physical therapist, when you should see one right away. You are lucky if you can get two appointments a month. You could easily need two appointments a week.
“We want a wage increase of 25% over the next four years. We are just trying to catch up,” Tapia added. “The last contract raise was only 2% a year for four years. Kaiser hasn’t been seriously negotiating with us. They have plenty of money. When we started talking to them they had $44 billion in reserve. Now it’s up to $66 billion.”
Carpenters, other unionists and community members joined the picket lines. Passing drivers constantly blared their horns, showing support.
Anthony Lavaysse from Carpenters Local 2236 carried a handmade sign reading, “Unions supporting unions.” He stressed the importance of strengthening the unions, noting we’ve been slipping for years and we have to turn things around.