Kaiser Nurses’ Strike Ends, but Little Progress Seen

A two-day strike by registered nurses at Kaiser Permanente in Central and Northern California ends today--but only because it was planned that way.

Very little, if anything, has been resolved between Kaiser management and the California Nurses Assn. since thousands of RNs walked off the job early Wednesday.

“It’s disappointing, but it’s not surprising,” said Chantay Allmond, a home-care case manager who picketed Thursday outside one of Kaiser’s San Francisco facilities.

However, new talks have been scheduled for Wednesday in Oakland, according to the union. The talks are happening, in part, at the urging of Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Antioch) and several other state lawmakers who have been attempting to bring the two sides together.

The strike, scheduled to end at 7 a.m. today, has directly affected 54 Kaiser medical facilities from Fresno to Sacramento and has also had a ripple effect on other hospitals, particularly emergency and critical care facilities already strapped by a nasty flu season.

Many already overcrowded hospitals have been placed on “internal disaster mode,” with mandatory overtime and cancellation of elective procedures. Three counties--Alameda, Contra Costa and Solano--called medical states of emergency. And at least one hospital, UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, received state approval to add hospital beds.

Bringing in staff from Southern California and out of state will probably cost the Oakland-based HMO about $20 million, Kaiser officials said.

The bitter one-year feud between the nurses and Kaiser has shown itself during the walkout--the fourth since the nurses’ contract expired a year ago.