In the largest health care industry strike in U.S. history, approximately 75,000 health care workers represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions went on strike against Kaiser Permanente, a leading A🙈merican health care provider, on Wednesday morning. The strike could impact patient care at Kaiser facilities across the country.

Why Are Kaiser Healthcare Workers Striking?

The striking workers, roughly 40% of Kaiser's workforce, seek wage increases, job security, union protections, and retirement benefits. Union leaders and Kaiser executives remained in negotiations into the early morning hours of Wednesday, but were unable to reach an agreement before the strike deadlin♓e, the union reported.

“Given the urgency of Kaiser’s staffing crisis, frontline health care workers are ready to sit down with Kaiser executives whenever they’re ready to bargain in good faith,” executive director of the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, Caroline Lucas said, highlighting that “no agreement can be made until Kaiser executives stop bargaining in bad faith and committing unfair labor practices."

What Impact Would The Strike Have?

The strike could impact patients at the affected health care facilities in Washington D.C., Virginia, California, Washington, Colorado, and Oregon, and Kaiser's financials may feel a temporary pinch.

The union strike “wil⛄l very likely result in canceled pr🍨ocedures, reduced volumes, and a sharp, but brief constraint on revenues this week,” due to its size and scope, Kevin Holloran, health care sector senior director at Fitch Ratings, told Investopedia. Holloran noted that he expected negotiations will continue as both sides want to avoid a larger or longer strike.  

He said that Kaiser would likely try to keep "critical infrastructure open," and is unlikely to "backfill" roles of the striking workers, suggesting that non-emergency and elective procedures may be the most impacted.

Health Care Workers Areꦕ Not The Only Ones Striking

This year has been an active one 𝓰for strikes by some of the largest labor unions, and the health care sector in part♒icular.

Within the health care industry, there have been 31 labor union actions since the start of 2023, compared to 39 over the entirety of 2022 and 33 in 2021, according to the Cornell-ILR Labor Action Tracker, which monitors strike and labor protest activity nationwide.

At the start of the year, 7,000 New York City nurses represented by the New York State Nurses Association went on strike for three days, ultimately achieving their demands of a staff-to-patient ratio standard.

In June, 2,000 National Nurses United union registered nurses in Texas and Kanas went on a one-day strike demanding that employers address staffing shortages.

The United Auto Worker♔s union is also currently on strike again🥂st the Big Three automakers, Ford (F), General Motors (GM), and Stellantis (STLA), in a labor stoppage that could have cost $3.95 billion in economic losses in the first two weeks of the strike, according to Anderson Economic Group estimates.