OAKLAND, Calif. – Less than three months away from their contract expiration, tens of thousands of healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente will hold pickets to protest the short staffing crisis and its effects on patients and caregivers. The pickets will take place at 50 facilities across California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado, and will start July 24 and run through July 29.
After three years of the COVID pandemic and chronic understaffing, healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente are calling on management to provide safe staffing levels. Caregivers say understaffed hospitals and clinics are unsafe and can lead to long wait times, mistaken diagnoses, and neglect, making it harder to give patients quality care.