Blaylock said it will be difficult to leave her regular patients behind, despite the strike lasting only three days. Blaylock feels she has no choice, both as an employee and as a patient, given the staffing shortages at the hospital.

According to Blaylock, when we try to schedule appointments (for my mother), they don’t have the staff to accommodate her. When I joined Kaiser, I thought it was the best place to work. I wanted to retire from this company. Even though I don’t want to leave, I am considering leaving. There are probably about 12 of us on my shift right now. In the pre-Covid era, there were 18. Over the past three years, we’ve lost so many workers.” If the coalition of unions strikes, it would affect dozens of facilities in California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Virginia and Washington, DC. Starting on Wednesday, nurses, therapists, technicians, dietary services, maintenance and janitorial staff are set to walk out for a three-day strike. When a strike occurs, Kaiser said it has contingency plans in place to continue to provide care to patients.

“While these plans to strike are disappointing, we remain committed to reaching an agreement that is good for our employees, members, and organization,” Kaiser said.

Despite Kaiser’s admission that filling health care jobs is a difficult task, the stress it places on its current workers has contributed to increased labor tensions.