Health-care workers at Kaiser Permanente’s Oakland Medical Center on Broadway walked off their jobs on Wednesday morning, joining roughly 75,000 other Kaiser employees across five states in a strike that’s anticipated to last three days. The action is expected to be the largest health-care workers strike in U.S. history.

A coalition of unions representing the striking workers has accused the health provider of unfair labor practices and bargaining in bad faith. The coalition and the company began the bargaining process in April and the labor contract expired on Sept. 30, according to a statement from the union.

A core issue for the employees has been understaffing, which they say has led to “dangerously long wait times, mistaken diagnosis, and neglect,” according to the statement. They are calling on Kaiser management to provide “safe staffing levels.”

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Kaiser Permanente and its health care workers failed to reach new contract. Workers have planned a three-day strike. Credit: Amir Aziz

Some of the jobs impacted by the strike include emergency department technicians, vocational nurses, radiology, x-ray and ultrasound technicians, respiratory therapists, certified nursing assistants, behavioral health workers, home health aides, pharmacy workers, and surgical technicians.

The Oaklandside’s visual journalist Amir Aziz was onsite Wednesday morning at the Oakland Medical Center to capture photographs from the picket line.

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Workers picket outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center on Oct. 4, 2023. Credit: Amir Aziz
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Juan Barajas, a medical assistant said Kaiser staff are struggling to support patients, doctors, and other staff. “We do so much but get so little in return.” Barajas joined other workers on the picket line outside Kaiser’s Oakland Medical Center on Oct. 4, 2023. Credit: Amir Aziz
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Two Kaiser workers at the picket line outside the Oakland Medical Center on Oct. 4, 2023. Credit: Amir Aziz
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La Juana Hunter, an x-ray technologist, said she feels that Kaiser’s leaders don’t respect the workers who perform essential jobs. “Kaiser is standing our backs. We’re the backbone of this organization. We do the work. We care for patients. We’re here when family members can’t be here and when patients get bad news,” Hunter said on the picket line outside the Oakland Medical Center on Oct. 4, 2023. Credit: Amir Aziz
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The mood was upbeat at the picket line in Oakland. Credit: Amir Aziz

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Amir Aziz is a photographer and videographer from Oakland, California. Using photography as his primary medium, Amir documents life and times in his community and the rapid changes in his environment. He's covered music events and social justice movements in the U.S. and abroad for local and international publications. Before shelter-in-place, he traveled to over 10 countries producing multimedia projects juxtaposing the experiences of locals elsewhere to those in his hometown of Oakland. Amir hopes to continue to bridge the gap between African diaspora communities and oppressed groups in the world through multimedia storytelling.

Jacob Simas is the Community Journalism Director at Cityside and Managing Editor of The Oaklandside. He joined us from Univision, where he led social-impact initiatives and established the Rise Up: Be Heard journalism training program at Fusion for young people and community organizers in underserved areas of California. He was a senior editor and director of youth and community media at New America Media, where he led a community news network that amplified student and youth reporting in California news deserts. He is an advisory board member for Youth Beat, a graduate of UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and a former producer with KPFA's First Voice apprenticeship program.