Kaiser Strike Returns to Fontana, Riverside, Ontario as Union Cites Staffing, Kaiser Says Pay Offer Stands

An open-ended strike by Kaiser Permanente nurses and other health care professionals began Monday morning, Jan. 26th, across California and Hawaii, with picket lines forming in the Inland Empire outside Kaiser facilities in Fontana, Riverside and Ontario — the latest escalation in negotiations that also led to a multi-day walkout in October 2025.

The work stoppage, called by United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals, started at 7 a.m. local time and is expected to continue until an agreement is reached, the union said. UNAC/UHCP said 31,000 frontline registered nurses and health care professionals are participating across California and Hawaii, affecting more than two dozen hospitals and hundreds of clinics, calling it the largest strike of health care professionals this year.

UNAC/UHCP said its members have been bargaining with Kaiser since May 2025 and that in December, Kaiser management walked away from negotiations and attempted to bypass the agreed-upon national bargaining process. The union said it filed unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging Kaiser violated federal labor law by abandoning good-faith bargaining and undermining workers’ protected rights.

Kaiser Permanente said it is prepared to maintain care, arguing the strike is unnecessary given what it described as a historic wage proposal and emphasizing that hospitals and most medical offices will remain open.

Picketing in the Inland Empire is centered outside Riverside Medical Center, 10800 Magnolia Ave., Riverside; Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Ave., Fontana; and Ontario Medical Center, 2295 S. Vineyard Ave., Ontario, according to the union’s strike notice.

On Jan. 25th, Camille Applin-Jones, Senior Vice President for Kaiser Permanente Southern California, told us, “We have been informed that United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have agreed to return to local bargaining where we look forward to being able to finalize new contracts for our employees and their families.”

Applin-Jones said talks with UNAC/UHCP and the Alliance of Health Care Unions have stretched more than seven months. “These negotiations come at a time when health care costs are rising, and millions of Americans are at risk of losing access to health coverage. This underscores our responsibility to deliver fair, competitive pay for employees while protecting access and affordability for our members. We’re doing both.”

Kaiser said its Alliance employees already earn, on average, about 16% more than similar roles at other health care organizations, and in some markets, they earn 24% more. Kaiser said its current proposal builds on that and includes “the strongest compensation package in our national bargaining history”: a 21.5% wage increase over the life of the contract, with 16% within the first two years. The statement said that when step increases and local adjustments are factored in, “the total average increase is approximately 30%.”

Kaiser also emphasized that not all Alliance unions currently in negotiations will participate. The company said the striking unions represent nearly 30,000 health care professionals across California and Hawaii facilities, and in Southern California, UNAC/UHCP represents nearly 27,000 health care workers.

“Unfortunately, despite the recent agreement to return to local bargaining, UNAC/UHCP intends an open-ended strike beginning at 7 a.m. local time on January 26 at some of our California and Hawaii facilities,” Applin-Jones said.

“Despite the union’s claims, this strike is about wages,” Applin-Jones said. “This open-ended strike by UNAC/UHCP is unnecessary when such a generous offer is on the table. The strike is designed to disrupt the lives of our patients — the very people we are all here to serve.”

UNAC/UHCP disputes that characterization, describing the action as an unfair labor practice strike driven by what it says are unlawful tactics that undermine negotiations and intimidate workers. “Kaiser’s own communications to employees reveal exactly why we are striking,” said Charmaine S. Morales, RN, UNAC/UHCP President. “Instead of addressing unsafe staffing and patient care concerns, Kaiser is issuing messages that pressure workers not to strike, exaggerate the risks of participation, and encourage employees to report one another. That is intimidation.”

“Caregivers should not be pressured or frightened for standing up for patient safety,” Morales said. “This strike is about restoring safe staffing levels, timely access to care, and respect for the professionals who deliver that care every day.”

Both sides say patient access is central, but they point to different solutions.

Kaiser said it has been preparing for months to avoid disruptions. “During the strike, our hospitals and nearly all of our medical offices will remain open. Members also have 24/7 access to same-day care through Get Care Now on kp.org and our mobile app.”

Kaiser said some appointments could be shifted to virtual care and certain elective procedures may be rescheduled, and that facilities will be staffed by physicians, experienced managers and trained staff, “with added licensed contract professionals as needed.” Kaiser said it is onboarding nurses, clinicians and other staff to work during the strike, “the majority of whom have worked at Kaiser Permanente before,” and said many employees have volunteered to be reassigned to work in strike locations.

For many Inland Empire residents, the walkout echoes the last major Kaiser labor action in the region. When workers picketed outside the Fontana Medical Center on Oct. 15, 2025, the second day of that multi-day strike, frontline staff said their concerns went beyond wages and emphasized the connection between staffing and patient care.

“We’re not just striking for ourselves,” said Maria Arevalo Ramirez, a union representative from Fontana. “We’re striking for our patients, future nurses, and the future of healthcare.”

Arevalo Ramirez also emphasized the financial toll of walking out. “We are taking a leap of faith, not just for ourselves, but for our patients,” she said. “We’re investing that money into patient care and progress for nursing.”

Marcial Reyes, a health care worker who joined the Fontana picket line in October, tied staffing levels to emergency department congestion. “We don’t want to make our patient wait. Give us more staff to take care of our patient,” he said. “We sometimes see patients waiting eight hours. They use the ER because they cannot get appointments.”

And Celina Zumaya, a registered nurse and UNAC member who participated in the Fontana demonstration, said, “This is a very tough job and we’re dealing with life and death,” adding, “We are always short-staffed. The last few days I worked, we were down six bodies in a 24-hour period.”

Kaiser, in its current response, maintains that its offer is already among the most competitive in the industry and says it is ready to close agreements at local tables. “Our focus remains on reaching agreements that recognize the vital contributions of our employees while ensuring high-quality, affordable care,” Applin-Jones said. “Employees deserve their raises, and patients deserve our full attention, not prolonged disputes.”

UNAC/UHCP says the strike will continue “until Kaiser reaches a fair agreement that protects patients and respects caregivers,” and Morales framed the walkout as a measure of last resort. “We’re not going on strike to make noise. We’re striking because Kaiser has committed serious unfair labor practices and because Kaiser refuses to bargain in good faith over staffing that protects patients, workload standards that stop moral injury, and the respect and dignity that Kaiser caregivers have been denied for far too long,” she said.

“Striking is the lawful power of working people, and we are prepared to use it on behalf of our profession and patients.”

Morales also challenged Kaiser’s position on resources and priorities. “When Kaiser says it doesn’t have resources to fix staffing, what we hear is that a nonprofit health care organization would rather protect an enormous financial cushion than protect patients and the people who care for them,” said Morales, UNAC/UHCP President.

As picketing continues outside Kaiser’s Inland Empire sites, the immediate test will be whether routine appointments, specialty services and pharmacy access remain steady — and whether local bargaining can narrow the gap between Kaiser’s insistence that wages are the core issue and the union’s claim that the dispute is rooted in labor practices, staffing and patient-care standards.