The largest open-ended strike of health care professionals in U.S. history will end Tuesday, without workers winning on a key wage demand.<\/p>\n
Spokespersons for the United Nurses Associations of California\/Union of Health Care Professionals said Monday it had notified Kaiser of plans to formally end the major work stoppage, which stretched over four weeks<\/a> across California and Hawaii. More than 31,000 health professionals will return to work across the West, including 2,800 nurse anesthetists, physical therapists and others at the Bay Area\u2019s largest care provider.<\/p>\n Workers had not taken to picket lines on Monday as they had for much of the last month. At the direction of union leaders, they will return to work Tuesday and begin finalizing contracts that do not include the significant wage increase they\u2019d sought since the fall, in favor of a smaller pay bump long proposed by Kaiser.<\/p>\n The striking workers were not paid from a \u201cstrike fund\u201d and went completely without wages for the month-long stoppage.<\/p>\n Union officials said ending the strike was in the best interest of workers and cast the historic work stoppage as a success. Elissa Harrington, a spokesperson for Kaiser in the Bay Area, said the strike was \u201centirely unnecessary\u201d in an email.<\/p>\n The strike forced the health care giant to delay some surgeries and other appointments, frustrating patients. It\u2019s unclear if there is a backlog of appointments to clear when workers return. Harrington did not respond to specific questions.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working with our teams to schedule returning employees over the coming days, in an orderly way that protects patient safety and minimizes any disruption,\u201d Harrington said.<\/p>\n Patients may still see picket lines at Kaiser facilities: separately, mental health therapists in the Bay Area and Central Valley said Monday they\u2019re planning to strike for one day, although a date isn\u2019t set.<\/p>\n Any delays in care sparked by the strike didn\u2019t result in an increase in complaints to the California Department of Managed Health Care, according to data obtained by this news organization. There was also no sizable increase in requests for an independent medical review, in which an independent board of doctors can order a health provider, such as Kaiser, to perform medically necessary procedures.<\/p>\n For employees returning to work Tuesday, union officials said the strike successfully forced Kaiser back to the bargaining table after talks broke down.<\/p>\n The health professionals ultimately accepted the offer Kaiser had made for months leading up to the strike: a 21.5% wage increase over four years, rather than the 25% increase demanded by the union, said Peter Sidhu, the union\u2019s executive vice president.<\/p>\n Management at Kaiser, a nonprofit health giant that is both California\u2019s largest health provider and its biggest private-sector employer, maintained the union\u2019s sought-after raise would increase costs to patients. The 21.5% raise would cost nearly $2 billion over the life of the contract, and the union\u2019s plan would have cost another $1 billion, a Kaiser spokesperson claimed\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n Kaiser patients already faced increased health premiums this year. The nonprofit enjoyed a series of profitable years. During the strike, workers cast their wage demand as necessary to catch up with post-pandemic inflation.<\/p>\n Sidhu said some of the union\u2019s members were frustrated Monday because the strike had not achieved a bigger pay increase. Still, he said, the decision to walk off picket lines and return to work was in the best interest of the union\u2019s members.\u00a0Returning to work \u201cprotected\u201d the workers\u2019 ability to receive the 21.5% pay increase, he said, as Kaiser shifted its demands. He did not elaborate, citing the confidentiality of negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that we accomplished our goal of getting them back to the table,\u201d he said of Kaiser\u2019s management.<\/p>\n The tens of thousands of nurses and other health professionals had walked off the job and onto picket lines on Jan. 26. The union launched the strike after negotiations stalled in the fall, and relations between its negotiators and Kaiser\u2019s had deteriorated by the holidays, with allegations of blackmail and bad faith.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n In the Bay Area, hundreds of workers picketed in front of Kaiser\u2019s sprawling hospitals in Santa Clara and in Oakland, not far from the giant\u2019s headquarters. Drivers enthusiastically honked in solidarity while the workers marched or danced to loud music.<\/p>\n