An open-ended strike by Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health care professionals began Monday morning, Jan. 26th, across California and Hawaii, with picket lines forming in the Inland Empire outside Kaiser facilities in Fontana, Riverside and Ontario — the latest escalation in negotiations that also led to a multi-day walkout in October 2025.
The work stoppage, called by United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, started at 7 a.m. local time and is expected to continue until an agreement is reached, the union said. UNAC/UHCP said 31,000 frontline registered nurses and health care professionals are participating across California and Hawaii, affecting more than two dozen hospitals and hundreds of clinics, calling it the largest strike of health care professionals this year.
UNAC/UHCP said its members have been bargaining with Kaiser since May 2025 and that in December, Kaiser management walked away from negotiations and attempted to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process. The union said it filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Kaiser violated federal labor law by abandoning good-faith bargaining and undermining workers’ protected rights…