More than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers to end strike in California and Hawaii

Audio By Carbonatix

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An estimated 31,000 registered nurses and other front-line Kaiser Permanente health care workers will return to work on Tuesday after a four-week strike in California and Hawaii to demand better wages and staffing.

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals said in a statement Monday that “significant movement at the bargaining table” prompted an end to the walkout. There were no details about what progress was made during negotiations or what a potential deal might look like.

“According to the union, returning members to their patients and their livelihoods is the clearest path to securing a final agreement and building on the progress achieved during the strike,” the statement said.

Kaiser Permanente officials didn't immediately comment on the union's announcement.

The picketing that began Jan. 27 marked the second major strike in recent months by employees represented by the union. A five-day strike in October ended with negotiations resuming, but talks broke down in December.

Those on picket lines, including pharmacists, midwives and rehab therapists, said salaries have not kept pace with inflation and there is not enough staffing to keep up with patient demand.

They asked for a 25% wage increase over four years to make up for wages they say are at least 7% behind their peers.

Kaiser Permanente had countered with a 21.5% increase over four years. The company maintained that its union employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers, and that it would have to charge customers more to meet strikers' pay demands.

Clinics and hospitals remained open during the strike, with some in-person appointments shifted to virtual, and some elective surgeries and procedures rescheduled.

Kaiser Permanente operates one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit health systems, serving 12.6 million members at 600 medical offices and 40 hospitals in largely western U.S. states. It is based in Oakland, California.

In New York City, nurses in the privately run NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital system approved a new contract Saturday, voting to end a major strike there after more than a month.

Two other big private hospital systems in New York, Montefiore and Mount Sinai, ended their nurses’ walkout earlier this month by inking contract agreements with the same union.