© Reuters. Healthcare employees strike in front of Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, as more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente healthcare employees go on strike from October 4 to 7 throughout the United States, in Los Angeles, California, U.S. October 4,2023 REUT
By Steve Gorman and Ahmed Aboulenein
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A 72-hour strike by 75,000 healthcare employees versus Kaiser Permanente drew to a close on Friday as both sides in the labor conflict concurred to resume stalled agreement talks next week while union authorities cautioned of possible additional walkouts to come.
Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su, who played a function as arbitrator throughout an all-night negotiating session last week, will return to California to “assist the celebrations in advancing talks” when they return to the bargaining table next week, the Labor Department revealed.
Nurses, medical professionals and assistance personnel at hundreds of Kaiser healthcarefacilities and centers in California, Oregon, Washington state, Colorado, Virginia and the District of Columbia strolled off the task on Wednesday earlymorning in the biggest strike ever to hit the U.S. healthcare sector.
The labor clash has focused on employees’ needs for muchbetter pay and steps to minimize persistent staffing scarcities and high turnover of workers that union authorities state hasactually weakened client care at Kaiser, one of the biggest medical companies in the United States.
The union union bargaining with Kaiser stated on Friday that “outsourcing of important healthcare tasks” hasactually endedupbeing another secret point of contention in the disagreement.
Kaiser has stated its healthcenters and emergencysituation departments have stayed open throughout the walkout, staffed by medicalprofessionals, supervisors and “contingency employees.”
The strike hasactually pressed Kaiser to the leadingedge of growing labor discontent in the healthcare market – and throughout the U.S. economy – driven by the disintegration of employees’ making power due to inflation and pandemic-related di