Kaiser Workers Set to Strike in Georgia This Week

November 3, 2021Twee LinkedIn Print Articl

Health care workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Georgia have voted to strike over Kaiser’s changes in pay and benefits.

The United Food & Commercial Workers Local 1996 voted over the last week to authorize the work stoppage. By law, the union must give the employer 10 days notice, so a strike may not begin until later this week, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper.

The health workers have balked at Kaiser’s plan to implement a two-tiered system that would give new hires much lower pay and benefit levels. Workers also have called for higher cost-of-living increases over the next several years to help ensure more nurses will be on staff as the state faces a shortage of nurses during the coronavirus pandemic, the news site reported.

Kaiser has said that its workers already are at the top of pay and benefit levels.

The number of workers set to go on strike is not clear. Kaiser has 26 locations in Georgia. The labor union said it represents 2,450 employees, although not all of those are members of the union.