Kaiser nurses embark on indefinite strike

Kaiser nurses statewide began an indefinite strike Monday, restarting picket lines that went idle after a five-day work stoppage in October 2025.

Given that union members do not get paid if they do not work their shifts, such an open-ended walk-off is rare. And it is not like Kaiser Permanente is refusing to pay nurses more. The health care juggernaut has said repeatedly in statements that it has offered raises that would adjust pay upward by a total of 21.5 percentage points over the length of a potential four-year contract, an amount that outstrips the 17 percentage point increase recently ratified by Sharp nurses.

Kaiser has made that proffered pay increase the centerpiece of its messaging campaign to avoid another strike. Though the company has not said how many replacement workers it has brought in to keep its operations running, any such action generates millions in extra labor costs.

The medical provider makes the point that the 31,000 registered nurses now on picket lines in California and Hawaii would fare far better financially if they would just take the deal, especially when “step” wage increases are included. Those increases automatically increase pay as workers amass more years of experience.

Average wages for union-represented nurses in Southern California, Kaiser says, average $77.43 per hour.

“These individuals ...