Oregon Kaiser workers vote to authorize strike over staffing issues

Kaiser Permanente Healthcare Workers in Oregon and Southwest Washington Vote to Authorize Strike

PORTLAND, Ore.— In a significant move, healthcare workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities across Oregon and Southwest Washington have voted overwhelmingly to empower their union, the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP), to initiate a strike, according to union representatives.

With over 96 percent of members supporting the decision, OFNHP, which encompasses nearly 4,000 healthcare professionals in four distinct bargaining units, stands prepared for potential industrial action. The bargaining units include registered nurses, laboratory professionals, and other professional employees such as social workers and therapists. OFNHP members operate in various locations, including Sunnyside Medical Center and Westside Medical Center, and numerous clinics along the I-5 corridor from Longview, Washington to Eugene, Oregon. Their contracts are set to expire on September 30.

Since March 2025, negotiations have stalled as Kaiser has not adequately addressed key concerns of the healthcare workforce, OFNHP President Sarina Roher stated. She emphasized the critical need for addressing staffing shortages to prevent deterioration in patient care. Roher pointed out that competitive pay at other state hospitals has successfully attracted healthcare workers.

“Cutting frontline care costs is a choice—a choice that’s not in the patients’ best interest. Our choice is for Kaiser to go back to the days when it worked collaboratively in partnership with its workers on creating high-quality workplace conditions and decisions that put patients first,” Roher expressed. “The experts who provide the care must shape the care plans; that’s how patients thrive. Healthcare decisions belong in the hands of those who deliver the care, not those who balance the books.”

The authorization enables OFNHP leadership to provide Kaiser with a 10-day notice before initiating a strike, which could occur anytime post-September 30.

Roher added, “We will continue to bargain in good faith, hoping that we can reach an agreement that is fair and respectful for healthcare workers and best for our patients.”

OFNHP, affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), is part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, representing 62,000 Kaiser Permanente health workers across 23 local unions affiliated with eight national unions. The Alliance is concurrently negotiating a national bargaining agreement to supplement each local contract. Currently, contracts for 52,000 Kaiser workers, including nurses, therapists, and technical staff, are due to expire at the end of September or early October. Unions representing 46,000 of these workers have already authorized strikes in locations such as Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.