Nurses at 47 Kaiser Facilities Walk Off Job

Thousands of registered nurses employed by the nation’s largest health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente, walked off the job Thursday in a two-day strike to protest a breakdown in contract negotiations, their union said. The strike involves 7,500 nurses at 47 Northern California hospitals and clinics. Oakland-based Kaiser said all of its facilities remained open despite the strike, but at reduced service levels. Kaiser rescheduled elective surgeries and patient appointments but said its 3,500 physicians, with the help of nurse managers flown in from Southern California, were filling in for the strikers. The nurses are fighting proposed wage reductions, reduced staffing levels and reductions in their own health-care benefits. The California Nurses Assn. said Kaiser has tried to displace some of its most experienced nurses with lower-paid, less-experienced employees. The CNA said these patterns have caused a decline in quality of care.