For Immediate Release
October 13, 2025
Contact:
Shane Burley
503-875-4228
sburley@ofnhp.org
WALKOUT: 7 a.m.,
NEWS CONFERENCE: 7:15 a.m.
WHERE: Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center
10180 SE Sunnyside Rd., Clackamas, Ore.
PORTLAND, Ore.—About 4,000 nurses and other health professionals at Kaiser Permanente facilities in Oregon and Southwest Washington will begin their strike at 7 a.m. Pacific time on Tuesday, after months of Kaiser's refusal to agree to a contract that addresses the serious concerns raised by frontline healthcare workers.
Tens of thousands of other Kaiser healthcare workers also will be striking this week across the country.
“No one who dedicates their life to caring for patients ever wants to walk off the job, but Kaiser has left us no choice. For months we've been at the table, ready to bargain in good faith. What we've asked for are real solutions to the staffing crisis, fair wages that let workers stay in our communities and a voice in how care is delivered. Kaiser's response has been to delay and disregard," said Sarina Roher, president of the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals.
“The strike is about more than wages. It's about respect, safety and the future of care in the Northwest," Roher said. "Kaiser must meet the moment. Our healthcare professionals are standing up because patients deserve better. Kaiser needs to step up and be the partner our communities were promised, not a corporation that puts margins before the mission."
The OFNHP strike will last no longer than five days, until 7 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 19.
OFNHP represents about 4,000 healthcare workers in four different bargaining units who can strike—two units of registered nurses, laboratory professionals and professional employees (such as social workers, cancer counselors, audiologists, physical therapists and mental health therapists). OFNHP members work at Sunnyside Medical Center east of Portland and Westside Medical Center west of Portland, along with ambulatory surgical centers and medical clinics along the I-5 corridor from Longview, Wash., to Eugene, Ore. Their contracts expired on Sept. 30.
Natalie Yaquab, an operating room nurse, said she is striking because of the intransigence of Kaiser to make changes that would improve staffing. “I started with Kaiser eight years ago, when it used to show a great deal of respect to its workers; I don’t see that now. Because of short staffing, nurses like myself are burned out. I’m seeing high turnover rates because caregivers just don’t want to work for Kaiser as long as it refuses to make changes that will allow us to give our patients the best care possible,” she said.
OFNHP is part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents 62,000 Kaiser Permanente health professionals in 23 local unions among eight national unions and two independent unions. The Alliance is simultaneously working on a national bargaining agreement that would be an addendum to each local’s contract. Contracts of 52,000 Kaiser workers expired on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1, and nearly all are striking in solidarity.
There will be six picket lines set up starting at 7 a.m. on Tuesday, which will run through the end of the strike:
· Kaiser Westside Medical Center – 2875 NE Stucki Ave., Hillsboro, Ore.
· Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center – 10180 SE Sunnyside Rd., Clackamas, Ore.
· Interstate Medical Office – Central – 3500 N. Interstate Ave., Portland, Ore.
· Cascade Park Medical Office – 12607 SE Mill Plain Blvd., Vancouver, Wash.
· Kaiser Longview-Kelso Medical Center – 1230 7th Ave., Longview, Wash.
· Kaiser North Lancaster, 2400 Lancaster Dr. NE, Salem, Ore.
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