Starting on Monday of this week, six United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local unions of Kaiser Permanente in Southern California went on strike. UFCW represents pharmacy and laboratory professionals, as well as other employees. These groups, as well as nurses, are seeking improved wages, improved staffing levels and safer patient care. More than 31,000 nurses and health care professionals (UNAC/UHCP) began the strike on January 26, while over 4,000 pharmacy/lab workers (UFCW) joined the strike on February 9.
With strikes across California (including the Woodland Hills location), Kaiser is warning its patients that certain outpatient labs and pharmacies may be closed, have longer hours than usual or have different hours of operation than usual. Hospitals, emergency rooms and urgent cares will remain open, while non-urgent appointments may be rescheduled following a clinical review. If that is the case, Kaiser will contact a patient in advance to inform them if their care is affected or not.
For any urgent lab test, you can find a list of open laboratories at kp.org. or call a clinician 24/7 through video or phone in the Kaiser patient portal at kp.org/get-care.
While this is the largest strike to date in 2026, Kaiser Permanente has expressed that the strike is unnecessary and that they have previously offered competitive wages. According to the union, negotiations have been stalled for over a month.
As of Thursday morning on February 12, the pharmacy and lab workers have ceased their strike, while the nurses continue to protest.
