OVER 46,000 US healthcare workers have gone on strike against private health provider Kaiser Permanente.
31,000 United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) members started a five day strike yesterday morning which will end at 7.00am on Sunday.
Kaiser nurses, pharmacists, nurse anaesthetists, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, rehab therapists, speech language pathologists, dieticians and other specialty health care professionals are striking for safe staffing, equitable pay and benefits, and a voice for frontline caregivers from Kaiser Permanente.
This will be the largest strike in UNAC/UHCP’s history.
Yesterday morning (Tuesday 14th October) there were lines in California, Hawaii and Oregon.
In San Diego County, striking Kaiser employees picketed outside the San Marcos Medical Centre, the Zion Medical Centre and the San Diego Medical Centre.
More than 8,600 Kaiser Permanente health care workers represented by United Steel Workers union (USW) Local 7600 were among those who joined the picket line in San Diego
Local 7600 President Micheal Barnett said: ‘We have been clear from the start: our fight is about protecting patients and valuing the workers who care for them.
‘Issuing this notice means we are serious. If Kaiser continues to ignore our concerns, our members are ready to strike to defend safe staffing and quality care.
‘Kaiser calls us heroes, but refuses to bargain a fair contract that ensures safe staffing and respects the critical work we do every day.
‘We want to avoid a strike, but we will not accept a deal that undermines our patients or our profession.’
Meanwhile, in one of the largest union victories in decades, nearly 32,000 homecare workers in the US state of Michigan have voted – by 73 per cent – to join the SEIU (Service Employees International Union) Healthcare Michigan.
Alan Sable, Head of international unions federation UNI Global Union’s Care Sector said: ‘This is a historic win for care workers everywhere.
‘When homecare workers in Michigan stand up and win back their union, it sends a powerful message to the world: care workers are uniting and demanding that their work be valued and respected.
‘Their courage strengthens the global movement for dignity and decent jobs in care.
‘The homecare workers in SEIU are inspiring care workers from Colombia to the Philippines that when we fight, we win.’
This election marks the biggest organising win in the US Midwest since the 1940s and one of the largest in the history of the SEIU.
It provides union representation to a workforce that is predominantly women, immigrants, and people of colour, who provide essential in-home support for seniors and people with disabilities.
Sable said: ‘Winning our union sends a clear message that homecare workers will no longer work in the shadows of our communities.’
Erika LaFountain, a caregiver said: ‘We know our worth. We won’t be divided. And we’re part of a movement of working people across this country demanding good union jobs so we can take care of ourselves, our own families and our communities.’
Michigan’s homecare workforce delivers vital daily assistance. Yet, despite their indispensable role, most earn just $15.88 (£11.91) an hour and lack basic benefits.
The state faces a shortage of up to 170,000 care workers if jobs remain underpaid and undervalued.
The victory comes amid a wave of new organising among care and health workers across North America, as the sector grapples with staff shortages, burnout, and growing demand.
On Monday the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the largest union representing more than 800,000 federal government employees, condemned the Trump administration’s decision to illegally fire thousands of federal employees during the government shutdown.
AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement: ‘It is disgraceful that the Trump administration has used the government shutdown as an excuse to illegally fire thousands of workers who provide critical services to communities across the country.
‘These workers show up every day to serve the American people, and for the past nine months have been met with nothing but cruelty and viciousness from President Trump.
‘Every single American citizen should be outraged.
‘Federal workers are tired of being used as pawns for the political and personal gains of the elected and un-elected leaders.
‘It’s time for Congress to do their jobs and negotiate an end to this shutdown immediately.
‘In AFGE’s 93 years of existence under several presidential administrations – including during Trump’s first term – no president has ever decided to fire thousands of furloughed workers during a government shutdown.
‘AFGE is currently challenging President Trump’s illegal, unprecedented, abuse of power and we will not stop fighting until every reduction-in-force notice is rescinded.’
The union was responding to US Vice-President JD Vance who has warned of further workforce cuts in addition to the thousands of jobs already axed if the government shutdown is not resolved.
Vance threatened: ‘The longer this goes on, the deeper the cuts are going to be.’
Hundreds of thousands of federal employees are already on leave without pay as the shutdown approaches its third week.
No congressional vote is scheduled that could reopen the government.
The standoff began on 1st October after Democrats rejected a short-term funding bill.
They want the budget to include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
Last Friday the Trump administration announced that seven agencies, including The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention CDC – the national public health agency of the United States – had started firing over 4,000 staff.
Hundreds of Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) employees were reinstated on Monday after they were initially let go by the federal agency.
Temple University’s resident assistants (RAs) and peer mentors (PMs) voted unanimously on Tuesday to form a union with Office and Professional Employees (OPEIU) Local 153.
Members of Temple Union of Resident Assistants (TURA) have made history as the first group of undergraduate workers to organise at a public university in Pennsylvania.
Erin, an RA, said: ‘Too often, the efforts we make as student workers go unnoticed by the university.
‘We shoulder significant responsibilities in our residence halls, caring for residents while managing our own full-time studies.
‘As we prepare to bargain, we will advocate for higher compensation for our Resident Assistants and Peer Mentors and improved working conditions.
‘The value of our work far exceeds the compensation we currently receive.’
- For over two months 48-year-old Paramjit Singh, a US green card holder battling a brain tumour and a heart condition, has been held in a detention centre by US immigration authorities.
Singh, an Indian passport holder, has lived in the US on a green card since 1994.
He lives in Indiana with his family, who own a chain of gas stations and his wife and two children are US citizens.
But Singh now faces the threat of deportation.
On 30th July, he was detained by immigration authorities at Chicago O’Hare International Airport while returning from a trip to India and has since been in their custody.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) authorities have cited two decades-old cases as reasons for his detention, but his family and lawyer say there are no active cases against him.
They accuse immigration authorities of using old cases to delay his release and allege he lacks proper medical care despite a brain tumour and heart condition.
His lawyer, Louis Angeles said: ‘Paramjit Singh is not getting the medical help he needs.
‘He is only getting medical check-ups.
‘We are also taking legal steps to block him from being deported from the US.’