Jan 26 (Reuters) – Around 31,000 registered nurses and healthcare professionals will go on strike at Kaiser Permanente’s facilities in California and Hawaii on Monday, a union said.
“Kaiser management unlawfully undermined contract negotiations and attempted to intimidate workers exercising their legal right to strike,” the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) said.
The strike will affect over two dozen hospitals and hundreds of clinics, the union said, adding that it will continue until the healthcare conglomerate reaches an agreement. The strike was set to begin at 7 a.m. PT (1500 GMT) on Monday.
Kaiser Permanente said on Monday it has been bargaining with UNAC/UHCP and the Alliance of Health Care Unions for more than seven months, and the union has agreed to return to “local bargaining”.
“Unfortunately, despite the recent agreement to return to local bargaining, UNAC/UHCP intends an open-ended strike beginning at 7 a.m. local time on January 26 at some of our California and Hawaii facilities,” the company said.
Kaiser said that not all of the Alliance unions currently in negotiations will be taking part in the strike.
The union said Kaiser’s management walked away from talks in December, leading it to file a charge against the company for alleged unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board.
Earlier, the union held a five-day labour strike in October. Kaiser Permanente has previously said it has been in good-faith negotiations with the unions on a new national agreement since May.
The 31,000 members of the UNAC/UHCP are part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents 23 local unions.
Earlier this month, New York City nurses walked out of 10 major private hospitals across the city to demand increased staffing, funding of health benefits and protection from workplace violence often coming from patients.
(Reporting by Gnaneshwar Rajan in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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