More than 200 employees of Kaiser Permanente in Hawai‘i will once again strike the week after next.
The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals — which represents more than 40,000 workers, about 250 of which are in Hawai‘i — gave notice on Thursday that workers will strike across California and Hawai‘i.
The announcement came mere hours after the unions released a report detailing worsening conditions for Kaiser employees even as the company generates billions of dollars in profits.
“Kaiser claims it ‘can’t afford’ to invest in staffing, retention and patient safety — but the numbers continue to tell a different story,” the report reads. “Kaiser reported approximately $7.9 billion in net income across the first three quarters of 2025 alone.”
Despite these profits, the report claims that patient care has declined over the years, with medical decisions “increasingly shaped by cost algorithms rather than medical need.” Kaiser facilities are chronically understaffed, the report alleges, leaving patient needs to fall through the cracks.
Health care workers’ wages have stagnated while the company’s coffers have filled, and the report questions many of Kaiser’s spending decisions, such as a $65 million investment in various Russian concerns and other investment ties with private prison corporations CoreCivic and The GEO Group.
The report highlights a U.S. Senate investigation into a CoreCivic-run detention center in Georgia, which found 80 cases of medical neglect such as detainees being denied insulin or medical care for days.
“Kaiser says it’s a nonprofit focused on people,” said UNAC/UHCP President Charmaine S. Morales, in a statement Thursday. “But our patients and our members are living something else: not enough staff, too much work, delayed care, and preventable breakdowns.”
The unions previously struck for one week in October, following the expiration of their contract with Kaiser the previous month. The unions stated Thursday that contract negotiations have once again broken down, with Kaiser management reportedly refusing to come to the bargaining table, and the unions filing an unfair labor practice charge against the company in January.
The strike will begin Jan. 26. Unlike the October strike, the unions have not declared an end date.
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