KAISER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS RATIFY NEW CONTRACTS, WINNING VITAL PATIENT SAFETY PROTECTIONS 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 20, 2026

CONTACT: Press@unacuhcp.org

**Video here: UNAC/UHCP members discuss what they won for patient care**

 

KAISER HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS RATIFY NEW CONTRACTS, WINNING VITAL PATIENT SAFETY PROTECTIONS

LOS ANGELES — UNAC/UHCP health care professionals have voted to ratify new contracts with Kaiser Permanente. After months of hard-fought negotiations spanning Kaiser facilities across California and Hawaii, which included multiple, escalating strikes, workers have won critical protections that will directly improve patient care.

“This agreement reflects everything our members stood up and stood together for: safe staffing, improved access, and respect for the professionals who provide critical care every day,” said Charmaine Morales, RN, UNAC/UHCP President. “This fight was always about our patients and the public good, and we’ve made meaningful progress to ensure caregivers have the time and resources necessary to deliver safe, high-quality care.”

Approved by an overwhelming majority, the contracts are effective upon ratification and will expire on September 30, 2029. For the first time in more than 20 years, all UNAC/UHCP contracts ratified share the same expiration date.

From the very beginning of contract negotiations in March 2025, UNAC/UHCP made it clear to management that they would not settle contracts without major guarantees for safe staffing, patient access, patient safety, and the ability for health care professionals to practice to an appropriate standard of care.

UNAC/UHCP members’ unity and commitment to the health and welfare of patients and communities never wavered, persisting through multiple strikes. Last September, professionals fighting to win their first contracts struck for one day in Northern California. 31,000 nurses and health care professionals struck for five days in October. Then UNAC/UHCP members walked off the job in January in an Unfair Labor Practice strike and remained on the picket lines for nearly a month — the largest open-ended nurses and health care professionals strike in U.S. history.

When caregivers have a voice, patients are better off. Because of UNAC/UHCP, Kaiser patients will benefit from more time, better access, stronger communication, and higher quality care. These wins span regions and disciplines. Here are just a few examples of the union’s many patient care wins:

• Southern California registered nurses won an end to “paper staffing” so that charge nurses and break relief nurses are not counted toward nurse-to-patient ratios. The RNs also won contract language that will make sure patients have adequate care around the clock. There will be a clear process for addressing contract violations and bringing in help from other units when staffing falls short.
• Southern California physician assistants and nurse practitioners gained a stronger voice in shaping their work standards and time with patients, which will lead to more consistent, quality care.

• Dietitians will now be recognized for their training and expertise, supporting personalized nutrition care that helps patients heal, manage conditions, and stay healthy.

• Child life specialists now have a formal voice in reviewing real patient care experiences, strengthening how children and families are supported, informed, and comforted during hospital stays.

• Nurse midwives in Northern California will now work together across locations, improving communication, consistency, and care for birthing patients and families— leading to better birth experiences and outcomes.

• Hawaii pharmacists secured protected time for required training, helping to ensure medications are prepared and reviewed carefully so patients receive safe, high‑quality care.

• Southern California pharmacists secured uninterrupted training time that directly protects against medication errors.

• Doctors of Optometry can now become certified to provide care in their patients’ preferred language — a proven driver of better health outcomes, particularly in underserved communities.

• Cardiac device patients will now have ICD clinicians represented on clinical committees, improving oversight for patients with pacemakers and defibrillators.

• In Hawaii, nurse anesthetists fought for and won a Professional Practice Committee, an expanded compensation package to stop the exodus of experienced local staff, and formal protections against the replacement of trained union nurse anesthetists.

• In Northern California, rehab therapy and acupuncture patients will benefit from their caregivers having a stronger voice on committees for improving quality of care.

• Northern California physician assistants won improved staffing that should reduce wait times for patients, giving them access to care when they need it most.

The union also won the largest wage increases UNAC/UHCP has ever achieved. The patient care wins from these negotiations are just one chapter in an ongoing story. Many of the gains, such as enforcement of safe RN staffing ratios already in the contract, come after years of work on prior contracts and between contracts, including job actions, staffing objection forms, petitions, and informational pickets. The commitment of the caregivers doesn’t end with contract ratification. The fight to hold the employer accountable for its commitments will be ongoing.

“This is an important step forward, but the work doesn’t stop here,” said Peter Sidhu, RN, UNAC/UHCP Executive Vice President. “We’ll be vigilant — documenting ratio violations, escalating unsafe staffing gaps, and using every tool our new contracts provide to protect our patients.”

 

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United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents more than 40,000 registered nurses and healthcare professionals in California and Hawaii, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners; hospital support and technical staff. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees (NUHHCE) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), AFL-CIO.