DAY FOUR: KAISER’S ANTI-UNION ESCALATION BETRAYS ITS LABOR ROOTS — AND PUTS PATIENT CARE ON THE LINE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, January 29, 2026

CONTACT: press@unacuhcp.org

**Strike photos and videos here, courtesy of UNAC/UHCP**

KAISER’S ANTI-UNION ESCALATION BETRAYS ITS LABOR ROOTS — AND PUTS PATIENT CARE ON THE LINE

Contract negotiations remain stalled as 31,000 UNAC/UHCP members continue Unfair Labor Practice strike

LOS ANGELES — Union caregivers are calling out Kaiser Permanente for abandoning its labor roots: instead of collaboration, Kaiser is escalating anti-union tactics that have pushed employees toward strikes in recent years, threatening patient care and public health.

“Kaiser executives like to talk about partnership, but at the table they’re treating newly unionized caregivers like a threat to be punished, not professionals delivering care,” said Debra Sung, a physical therapist for 30 years and a lead negotiator for United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP). “When management proposes benefit cuts and divisive wage scales instead of solutions, they’re not preventing disruption — they’re manufacturing it, and patients end up paying the price.”

Kaiser’s labor roots are real and well-documented

Kaiser Permanente was founded by Henry Kaiser in 1945 to provide health care to his unionized construction workforce. Kaiser’s very first patients — and very reason for being — were union workers and their families. Labor unions were early supporters of the nascent Permanente Health Plan, helping expand membership in the post–World War II years. The health care giant itself states that organized labor is central to its identity and points to a long history of working with unions.

In 1997, Kaiser and its unions created the Labor-Management Partnership (LMP) to reduce conflict and improve collaboration. Today, Kaiser is moving in the opposite direction. Kaiser’s escalation now includes litigation filed on January 21, 2026 in federal court, seeking to weaken or exit the very partnership framework it once promoted.

Forcing strikes instead of fixing care

UNAC/UHCP’s recently-released report, Profits Over Patients, describes Kaiser’s attacks on its employees and the voices of its caregivers. The report describes a pattern that “escalates conflict and pushes workers to the brink,” including major actions by several unions in recent years.

The report makes clear Kaiser’s posture is not just “hard bargaining,” but part of a pattern that escalates conflict and increases the likelihood of disruption for patients.

When Kaiser refuses good faith collaboration and pushes caregivers toward strikes instead of addressing staffing and retention, it increases risks for care access, continuity, wait times, and patient safety across a massive system.

A public mission requires public accountability

Kaiser operates as a major nonprofit health system and participates heavily in publicly-funded coverage and public sector plans. That creates a public interest in whether Kaiser’s actions are consistent with its mission, including whether it is investing in the workforce that delivers care.

The report underscores a core contradiction: if Kaiser has the resources to expand reserves and pursue controversial investments, it has the resources — and responsibility — to invest in caregivers and patients.

Union-busting worsens shortages and harms access and equity

The report details Kaiser’s repeated push for two-tier wage and retirement structures that would pay newer workers less and reduce retirement benefits, dividing the workforce and undermining stability.

At a time of persistent staffing challenges, punitive bargaining and two-tier wage schemes worsen retention, deepen burnout, and accelerate turnover — which hurts patients first, especially in high-need communities.

What Kaiser is doing now: punishing and disrespecting its workforce

The report also describes how Kaiser executives have treated the union partnership “not as an asset, but as a cost to cut.”

This includes punishing units bargaining for their first contracts. Newly unionized Kaiser professionals, including Certified Nurse Midwives, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, acupuncturists, Physician Assistants, and Child Life Specialists, are facing proposed cuts to their current wages as well as denial of benefits and retirement security in their first contracts.

The report also describes continued disrespect of caregivers, including a Kaiser physician referring to staff as “parasites” and suggesting leadership is plotting to replace unionized workers with non-union care delivery models.

Read the full report at InvestinPatientCare.org.

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United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents more than 40,000 registered nurses and healthcare professionals in California and Hawaii, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners; hospital support and technical staff. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO.