Group of Sacramento-area Kaiser workers to strike again, for 5 days
.jpg "Union workers and supporters look on as Ross Madden, a physician’s associate and member of United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, speaks at a rally at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center on March 11, 2025.")
A group of Sacramento-area Kaiser Permanente workers, who held a one-day strike in September, plan to hold a five-day strike next week as the group pushes the health system for new contracts.
Still, the union said contract talks are ongoing, and it is possible the groups will reach a deal before the strike is scheduled to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday .
“My phone is on 24/7,” said Ross Madden, a physician associate in orthopedics and member of his bargaining unit’s negotiating team. “Nobody wants a strike.”
The move is part of a larger action by members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, or UNAC/UHCP. It would mark the union’s largest strike against Kaiser Permanente, the union said in a news release last week.
Madden said the group, locally, includes nurse anesthetists and midwives, of whom there are 165 in the Sacramento area, the union has previously said. It also includes physician associates, acupuncture providers, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech therapists, Madden said.
Kaiser said UNAC/UCHP represents nearly 2,800 employees in Northern California.
Kaiser said in a notice to patients that its hospitals and medical offices would remain open in the event of a strike, but that the health system may reschedule some non-urgent appointments or elective surgeries. It advised patients against proactively canceling or rescheduling appointments, and said staff would get in touch if a visit must be delayed. Kaiser has shifted some in-person appointments to virtual visits, Lionel Sims, senior vice president of human resources for Kaiser in Northern California, said in a statement Friday evening.
Sims said Kaiser offers competitive pay and excellent health benefits, and is already reducing internal costs to make its latest wage offer to the Alliance of Health Care Unions — of which UNAC/UCHP is a member. A strike, Sims said, will waste money, cause lost wages and potentially disrupt care.
Madden said his bargaining unit has reached some agreements with Kaiser over basic issues, but members are still pushing for the health system to maintain workers’ health care, retirement and pension benefits.
“We joined the union for representation, to deal with management as a unit — but also to solidify our benefits in writing, so those can’t be taken away,” Madden said. “Those benefits are very valuable to us.”
This story was originally published October 10, 2025 at 5:06 PM.
