Posts tagged Hawaii
Kaiser Permanente Nurses Ratify Contracts After Year of Strikes
March 24, 2026 // Agreements covering 31,000 health care professionals take effect at Pasadena-headquartered health system
The Rise of Portable Benefits
March 19, 2026 // States like Alabama, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming have already enacted voluntary portable benefits frameworks. Others—including Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Georgia—have launched pilot programs. And a growing number of states—from Connecticut to Kansas to Hawaii—are actively considering legislation.
Debate grows as states consider teacher strike bans
March 9, 2026 // Many states are considering new policies affecting teachers’ ability to strike or participate in protests, and education officials and labor advocates continue to debate the legality of teacher strikes. The strikes are banned or heavily restricted in roughly 38 states and Washington, D.C.
More than 30,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers to end strike in California and Hawaii
February 24, 2026 // Those on picket lines, including pharmacists, midwives and rehab therapists, said salaries have not kept pace with inflation and there is not enough staffing to keep up with patient demand. They asked for a 25% wage increase over four years to make up for wages they say are at least 7% behind their peers. Kaiser Permanente had countered with a 21.5% increase over four years. The company maintained that its union employees earn, on average, 16% more than their peers, and that it would have to charge customers more to meet strikers' pay demands.
Kaiser strike hits fourth week as 31,000 workers demand higher pay and better staffing
February 17, 2026 // The strike, which started Jan. 26, is an effort by one of the organization’s largest unions to improve wages and staffing conditions. Members of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals have never before walked off the job. The union, which is an umbrella organization for multiple local chapters, represents nurses, physical therapists, midwives and other health professionals.
Opinion: Teachers Unions Get Desperate
February 17, 2026 // Antichoice plaintiffs “usually file lawsuits right before families sign up for the program just to be particularly cruel. They know they’ll lose nearly every case, but delaying or enjoining the programs in any way is the last-ditch effort to slow maximum uptake for families,” says Tommy Schultz, CEO of the American Federation for Children. Many suits are striking out. Idaho’s high court just ruled 5-0 in favor of the state choice program. Top courts in Arizona, Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia have upheld choice programs. The U.S. Supreme Court has continued to issue beneficial rulings. Yet the legal threat is real, and unions, often accompanied by local school districts, continue to throw millions at litigation and disruption, forcing states to spend huge amounts to defend against them. Then the unions and the districts claim schools are underfunded.
Pharmacy and Lab Workers Join the Labor Strike Against Kaiser Permanente
February 10, 2026 // Over 3,000 pharmacy and lab workers have begun to strike during their own contract negotiations with the health care organization
Kaiser readies for pharmacy, lab worker strike as nurse walkout continues
February 4, 2026 // Kaiser Permanente urged members on Tuesday to get laboratory tests done this week after unions representing pharmacy and lab workers filed to begin striking in Southern California on Monday and an ongoing strike by thousands of nurses and other health workers continued into a second week.
4 healthcare strikes in 2026
January 29, 2026 // Union activity in healthcare continues in 2026, with at least four reported strikes in the month of January alone. Some of these actions involve healthcare workers and leaders across hospitals and clinics in multiple states.
Hospital chaos looms as tens of thousands of California nurses threaten walk off job despite proposed wage hikes
January 26, 2026 // In an effort to prevent the walkouts, Kaiser proposed a 21.5% wage increase, but the the union said the company refused to bargain in good faith