OAKLAND, Calif. — More than 600 midwives and nurse anesthetists went on strike at 20 hospitals throughout the Kaiser Permanente system in Northern California Sept. 8.
Hundreds rallied and picketed on a busy street outside the Oakland Kaiser hospital, demanding wage increases and adequate staffing. The pickets, most on strike for the first time, got constant honks of support from passing cars, buses and trucks.
The strikers, who make up the basic delivery team for most non-cesarean births at Kaiser, are new to the labor movement. After voting to unionize as members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, they’re fighting for their first contract.
Pickets told this Militant worker-correspondent that because conditions and pay at Kaiser are inferior to other area hospitals, many have left to get other jobs, leaving those remaining to face understaffing and burnout, as well as inferior care for patients.
“Kaiser is stonewalling, trying to intimidate us, putting profits over people,” UNAC/UHCP President and RN Charmaine Morales told the strikers during a rally at the picket line. “We’re demanding the staffing, resources and respect that make safe, expert care possible. We will not back down!”
Hundreds of physician assistants and acupuncture providers at Kaiser went out on a one-day sympathy strike and joined the action. Members of other unions at the hospital, including stationary engineers and nurses, also took part.