USW Local 7600 Issues 10-Day Notice of Intent to Strike Kaiser Permanente

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Fri., Oct. 3, 2025
Contact: Chelsey Engel, cengel@usw.org, 412-212-8173

(Fontana, Calif.) – More than 8,600 Kaiser Permanente health care workers represented by USW Local 7600 have officially issued a 10-day notice of intent to strike, a step required by federal law before health care workers can walk off the job. If a deal is not reached, the five-day strike will begin on Tues., Oct. 14.

Local 7600 members – including Licensed Vocational Nurses, Medical Assistants, engineers, pharmacy staff and lab staff, clerical, dietary and environmental services workers, technical staff, and other frontline professionals – have been bargaining since April over patient safety protections, staffing levels and ratios, and fair wages. National bargaining, led by the Alliance of Health Care Unions (AHCU), began in May and covers more than 52,000 Kaiser Permanente employees nationwide.

“We have been clear from the start: our fight is about protecting patients and valuing the workers who care for them,” said Local 7600 President Micheal Barnett. “Issuing this notice means we are serious. If Kaiser continues to ignore our concerns, our members are ready to strike to defend safe staffing and quality care.”

Contracts covering Kaiser workers in California and across the country expired September 30 and October 1. Despite months of negotiations, key issues remain unresolved. By filing the 10-day notice, USW Local 7600 joins other Alliance unions across the country in preparing for a potential strike.

“Kaiser calls us heroes, but refuses to bargain a fair contract that ensures safe staffing and respects the critical work we do every day,” Barnett added. “We want to avoid a strike, but we will not accept a deal that undermines our patients or our profession.”

The USW represents 850,000 workers employed in health care, metals, mining, pulp and paper, rubber, chemicals, glass, auto supply and the energy-producing industries, along with a growing number of workers in public sector, higher education, tech and service occupations.

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