From coast to coast, healthcare workers in the U.S. have participated in labor strikes this year, citing concerns about issues such as pay, staffing and recruitment. The strikes have involved workers from large health systems, including a walkout at Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente that was deemed by unions as the largest healthcare worker strike in the U.S. Now the question remains: Is healthcare's era of strikes here to stay?
To begin to answer this question, perhaps it's worth examining the number of strikes year over year. The Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations' labor action tracker shows 109 strikes involving workers in the healthcare and social assistance sector since January 2021. This includes 39 strikes in 2022, an increase from 33 in 2021. As of Oct. 24, 37 strikes had occurred in the sector this year. And as of Sept. 26, Becker's has reported on at least 18 healthcare-specific strikes in 2023.
"While it is very difficult to predict what will happen next, I think that the recent uptick in healthcare strikes will continue for at least the near future," said Johnnie Kallas, a PhD candidate and the director of the Cornell labor action tracker. "Many of these recent strikes have emerged from the first set of contract negotiations for unionized workers since the beginning of the pandemic, which obviously exacerbated many of the issues, like understaffing, already confronting healthcare workers."
Mr. Kallas also said that whether the number of strikes continues increasing depends partially on the extent to which strikes address workers' demands.
"If a group of workers heading into contract negotiations sees workers from another employer secure large pay increases and/or better staffing ratios, that could empower them to strike for improved working conditions," he added.
These and other factors make it unclear whether healthcare's era of strikes is here to stay. However, as I write this story, there are at least four ongoing healthcare strikes — at Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth, Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, Calif., Kindred Hospital San Diego, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. This indicates that walkouts are sure to continue in healthcare and that the number of walkouts this year in the healthcare and social assistance sector are on pace to surpass 2022.