Tens of thousands of health care workers are back at work after their union and Kaiser Permanente officials agreed to resume bargaining, ending a five-day strike at hundreds of hospitals across California, Oregon and Hawaii.

The strike began Tuesday, when thousands of health care workers from the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals at more than 500 Kaiser hospitals and clinics took to the picket lines, demanding safer staffing and better pay and benefits. In turn, their employer blasted the labor action as “unnecessary” and “disruptive.” 

The labor action ended at 7 a.m. Sunday, according to a Kaiser Permanente spokesperson. Union and hospital officials confirmed that the two groups will resume economic discussions later this week and formally return to the national bargaining table on Oct. 28 and 29.

“We stood strong for five days and made sure the world heard us,” UNAC/UHCP President Charmaine S. Morales said. “This strike wasn’t just about numbers on a contract — it was about the right to provide safe care to every patient who walks through those doors.”

The union represents registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, dieticians and other health care professionals. UNAC/UHCP is part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which negotiates contracts for 23 local unions, including UNAC/UHCP. The contracts for Kaiser workers in this local union expired Sept. 30 or Oct. 1.  

The union says its bargaining team has met with Kaiser in good faith over several months to negotiate a new contract, but that Kaiser has resisted its proposals to raise pay and fix staffing issues. It says that while inflation has grown 18.5% since 2021, Kaiser’s wages have grown only 10%; as a result, it says the union’s members are behind their industry peers. The union is proposing a 25% wage increase over the next four years.

Union officials have also objected to unsafe staffing, scheduling pressures and burnout. State filings show more than 200 positions were cut across Kaiser Foundation Hospitals locations last month, from sites in Oakland, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Pasadena, Redwood City, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Diego. Kaiser has previously said these reductions primarily affected business functions and do not involve direct patient care.

The hospital system says workers represented by the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which includes UNAC/UHCP, already earn 16% more than their peers. Kaiser has offered a 21.5% wage increase. 

The strike comes as the Joint Commission, the national body that accredits health care organizations and programs, rolled out more robust guidelines this month that formally recognized staffing as a critical component of health care quality rather than primarily anoperational or budgetary concern.

Labor leaders were quick to point to the new standards, saying they showed “what nurses have known all along: Unsafe staffing is unsafe care,” Morales said. “Employers like Kaiser can no longer treat staffing like a budget line. It’s now a national patient safety mandate — and UNAC/UHCP will make sure it’s enforced.”

In their own news release, Kaiser Permanente officials said they were resuming normal operations and thanked their front-line care teams, adding that when the two sides return to the bargaining table, the main focus will be on economic issues. 

“While the Alliance has publicly emphasized staffing and other concerns, wages are the reason for the strike and the primary issue in negotiations,” the statement said. “At a time when the cost of health care continues to go up steeply, and millions of Americans are having to make the difficult choice to go without coverage, it’s critical that we keep quality, accessible health care coverage affordable — while attracting and retaining top talent and keeping Kaiser Permanente a great place to work and receive care. Our offer does all this.”