LOS ANGELES: Tens of thousands of health care workers in the United States walked off the job on Wednesday, beginning one of the sector’s largest strikes in recent history, as America’s year of labour discontent rolled on.
The walkout of more than 75,000 workers at Kaiser Permanente, the country’s largest non-profit health care organisation, comes as surging inflation has spurred industrial action across the US, from Hollywood actors to Detroit auto workers. People on the picket lines in Los Angeles on Wednesday said they were underpaid and overworked. Kaiser Permanente locations in California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington state were expected to be affected by the three-day strike.
A small number of workers in Washington, DC and Virginia were set to walk out for 24 hours. Kaiser said centres would remain open, but warned there would be “longer-than-usual” wait times.
A Kaiser spokesman told journalists on Tuesday that talks were continuing.
Wednesday’s strike comes during a year in which the US has seen an unusually high level of industrial action as workers struggle with inflation levels not seen in a generation. Higher prices have reduced the purchasing power of shoppers across the country, while the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) has led to concerns about the automation of growing numbers of jobs.
Industrial action is ongoing in Detroit, where the United Auto Workers (UAW) union is engaged in its first-ever joint strike action against the “Big Three” auto makers — GM, Ford and Chrysler maker Stellantis — in a push for higher pay and better working conditions.
More than 25,000 workers are on strike in 21 states — around 17 per cent of UAW’s 146,000 members — as talks continue.
And in Hollywood, a monthslong joint strike by writers and actors brought California’s lucrative film industry to a halt, stopping production and broadcast of major movie and TV productions.
While the writers have since agreed on a deal to return to work, actors represented by the SAFAFTRA union were on the picket lines on Wednesday, even as their negotiators met with studios for a second full day of talks. – AFP
