Nurses and other health care workers at Kaiser Permanente voted this week to authorize a strike.

The Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, representing nearly 4,000 health care workers, made the announcement Friday evening. The vote was 97% in favor of a potential strike.

The union says it will give Kaiser 10 days’ notice if they decide to strike, which could happen after Sept. 30 when their contract expires.

Several facilities across Oregon and Southwest Washington could be impacted, including Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas and Westside Medical Center in Hillsboro, along with several medical and dental clinics along the I-5 corridor from Longview, Washington, to Eugene.

The strike would involve nurses, lab staff, social workers, cancer counselors, audiologists, physical therapists and mental health therapists, according to the union.

The vote follows months of negotiations in which union members pushed for improved staffing and higher pay.

Officials with Kaiser previously told OPB they’ve offered a 20% pay increase over the next four years and that they hope to avoid a strike, and said in a statement that “allegations about staffing and care quality do not reflect the facts.”

Sarina Roher, the president of OFNHP, said in a statement that the union would continue to bargain in good faith, “hoping that we can reach an agreement that is fair and respectful for healthcare workers and best for our patients.”

The OFNHP is part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which is also working on a national bargaining agreement with Kaiser that would impact its local union contracts.

The alliance represents 62,000 Kaiser Permanente health professionals nationwide, most of them with contracts expiring at the end of September. To date, 46,000 workers in six states have voted to authorize strikes.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/09/19/kaiser-permanente-strike-vote-oregon-southwest-washington/