Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers will gather outside the company’s Southern California headquarters here Saturday evening, holding candles two days before they begin an open-ended strike.
The gathering at 393 E. Walnut St., Kaiser Permanente’s regional headquarters, is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. and precedes a walkout set to begin Monday that could become the largest healthcare strike of 2026. At issue are wages, staffing levels, and whether Kaiser Permanente or the union is responsible for stalled contract negotiations.
The union representing 31,000 Kaiser Permanente workers in California and Hawaii says the healthcare giant has refused to return to the bargaining table since December.
“Kaiser can end this whenever they choose by coming back to the table and bargaining in good faith,” said Charmaine S. Morales, a registered nurse and president of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. “Until they do, we are done waiting.”
Kaiser Permanente disputes the union’s account. The company says it paused national bargaining on December 14 after what it described as a threatening incident involving a union representative. The union has flatly denied that allegation and filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.
At the center of the wage dispute, Kaiser Permanente has offered a 21.5% increase over four years. The company says its workers already earn an average of 16% more than peers at other healthcare systems.
“We respect the Alliance and value their members—our employees—for the vital role they play caring for our 12.5 million members,” Kaiser Permanente said in an October statement. “A strike is unnecessary when a generous offer is on the table.”
The union is seeking a 25% wage increase and says chronic understaffing is driving burnout and threatening patient care. UNAC/UHCP released a report titled “Profits Over Patients” that, according to the union, alleges Kaiser has prioritized investments over staffing.
This will be the second major UNAC/UHCP work stoppage in recent months. In October, roughly 46,000 Kaiser Permanente workers across multiple union locals staged a five-day strike. Negotiations resumed but stalled again in mid-December.
Kaiser Permanente serves roughly one in four Californians. Pasadena-area Kaiser members who need hospital services typically use Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center or Baldwin Park Medical Center, both of which are on the list of facilities that could be affected.
During the October strike, Kaiser brought in nearly 6,000 contract nurses and clinicians to maintain operations. The company said its hospitals and medical offices would remain open and urged patients not to cancel appointments.
The January 26 strike has no set end date.
“We’re not going on strike to make noise,” Morales said. “We’re authorizing a strike to win staffing that protects patients, win workload standards that stop moral injury, and win the respect and dignity Kaiser has denied for far too long.”
“We urge all Alliance unions to return to their local tables so we can finalize agreements and move forward together,” Kaiser Permanente said in a statement sent to Pasadena Now.
Get our daily Pasadena newspaper in your email box. Free.
Get all the latest Pasadena news, more than 10 fresh stories daily, 7 days a week at 7 a.m.
