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One thousand nurses at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center plan to go on strike Thursday over patient care and staffing levels, their union said Wednesday.
California Nurses Association/National Nurses United has been in negotiations with Kaiser Permanente since September for a new contract, the union said. Nurses have asked the organization for more supplies, such as syringes and the kits used to start IVs, and to invest more in nurses and ancillary staff, the union said.
Kaiser Permanente could not immediately be reached for comment.
“In the last four months, we have seen 50 nurses leave our hospital due to the poor working conditions that put patient care in jeopardy,” Tinny Abogado, a registered nurse who has worked at the medical center for 20 years, said in the release. “Nurses are leaving because they work 12-hour shifts without a break. They reach for supplies, and they are just not there.”
Violet Galinato, another registered nurse at the facility, said nurses often have to take on the jobs of certified nursing assistants, food service workers and housekeepers because the hospital doesn’t have enough ancillary staff.
“Taking valuable time away from providing care is not fair to our patients,” Galinato said.
Unions representing Kaiser Permanente workers have held a number of labor actions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic over wages and safety concerns. In November, the organization was able to reach a deal with the Alliance of Health Care Unions, a coalition of 21 labor organizations, that avoided strikes by more than 50,000 workers.
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