Hundreds of Kaiser Permanente nurse midwives and registered nurse anesthetists at more than 20 Northern California hospitals are planning a one-day strike over staffing levels and other contract issues next month.
The 24-hour strike is scheduled to start at 7 a.m. on Sept. 8, according to officials with the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals.
“We’re not only fighting for fair treatment at work — we’re demanding the staffing, resources, and respect that make safe, expert care possible,” said registered nurse Charmaine Morales, president of UNAC/UHCP, which represents 40,000 health care professionals in California and Hawaii.
The strike will include 600 certified nurse midwives and certified registered nurse anesthetists at Kaiser Permanente facilities in various Central Valley and Northern California cities, including Sacramento, Fresno and throughout the Bay Area.
The nurses are in the middle of contract talks with the hospital system over pay and benefit packages. If successful, it would be the first union contract for the nurse midwives since they joined UNAC/UHCP in 2024 and for the nurse anesthetists since they joined in 2023.
The nurses are also trying to get Kaiser executives to address “unsafe staffing, burnout and the risk to patient care,” union officials said in a news release Friday.
“When positions are left unfilled, patients wait longer for help, complications get missed, and outcomes suffer,” union officials said.
Kaiser officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Picket lines are scheduled for Sept. 8 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center and clinics at 1600, 1640 and 1660 Eureka Road in Roseville, and Kaiser Permanente Oakland Medical Center at 3600 and 3701 Broadway in Oakland.