Health care workers protest at Roseville’s Kaiser hospital, call for higher wages, staffing
Hundreds of health care workers protested outside Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville Medical Center Tuesday, calling for the health system to raise wages and staffing levels.
Workers said they joined the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals in 2023. Members said negotiations for their first contracts — which will cover hundreds of certified registered nurse anesthetists, physicians associates and certified nurse midwives across northern California — began in early 2024 and are ongoing.
“Kaiser’s reputation is built on our expertise,” said union President Charmaine Morales. “Yet too often they refuse to listen to us.”
Kaiser workers from across California held an informational rally at the Roseville hospital Tuesday, but did not strike.
Kaiser said in a statement that it is the largest employer of union health care workers in the U.S., and nearly 80% of its employees are represented. A health system representative said they plan to work with the union to “tackle the critical issues facing health care” and provide high-quality, affordable care.
“The parties have exchanged proposals and continue to bargain in good faith to reach a mutually beneficial agreement,” Kaiser officials wrote in a statement.
Ross Madden, a physician associate and member of one of the union’s bargaining teams, said the workload has grown dramatically in his 20 years at Kaiser, and physician associates are burning out. The number of procedures in his department — orthopedics — has exploded as the baby boomer generation has aged.
“There’s just not enough people to do the job,” Madden said.
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Hannah Bronsky Peña, a certified nurse midwife at Kaiser facilities in the Napa-Solano area, said she shared Madden’s concerns about staffing shortages.
“We’re underpaid. We’re chronically short-staffed,” Bronsky Peña said.
She said midwives also want more say over their schedules, and secure guaranteed places on leadership committees.
Several union members claimed that Kaiser has rejected basic contract language that exists in other unions’ agreements with the health system. They said they have yet to begin talks about economic issues, like wages.
The union said it has 2,500 northern California members in bargaining or about to begin bargaining. The union said it, along with the Alliance of Health Care Unions, will begin bargaining for a separate group of 60,000 workers in May.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 4:46 PM.
