Fuzzy Math: Kaiser Would Rather Make Outrageous Claims About Our Wage Proposals Than Fix Staffing

January 30, 2026

Fuzzy Math: Kaiser Would Rather Make Outrageous Claims About Our Wage Proposals Than Fix Staffing

Kaiser’s claim that our proposal is a 60-plus percent wage increase is simply false. It’s a misrepresentation. Kaiser executives have inflated the numbers in our proposals by rolling together step progressions, longevity adjustments, and compensation nurses already earn over time. That’s not a raise, that’s accounting gymnastics.

What this proposal actually does is address how far behind Southern California nurses have fallen compared to Northern California Kaiser nurses, and even nurses within the Kaiser system in Southern California, as well as other competing hospital systems—despite doing the same work, under the same economic pressures, and often with far less support.

And context matters. Kaiser has failed to make meaningful staffing proposals. Our nurses are being asked to do the work of two people, sometimes without adequate CNAs (certified nursing assistants), without break relief, without charge nurses able to function in their actual role. That takes a real physical and mental toll, and it directly impacts patient care.

When Kaiser shows a real commitment to safe staffing and patient care, nurses are always willing to bargain responsibly. But until then, it’s disingenuous to throw around inflated numbers while ignoring the reality nurses are facing at the bedside every day.

Let’s look at comparable health systems. Many competing hospitals have increased CNA support, break relief, and staffing infrastructure. What we’re seeing at Kaiser Southern California is the opposite—nurses unable to take breaks, charge nurses pulled into direct care because there’s no one else to cover, and chronic understaffing becoming normalized.

Kaiser has made a business choice—and patients and caregivers are paying the price.

The pay gap is significant: Southern California Kaiser nurses are not even the highest-paid Kaiser nurses in this state. If Kaiser says these numbers are ‘shocking,’ that should raise a bigger question: Why have these nurses fallen so far behind for so long?

Our proposals are about equity and fairness: not excess.

We are focused on patient care. Nurses and health care professionals can’t provide safe care when they’re stretched beyond ratios, skipping meals, and doing the work of multiple staff members. Staffing, retention, and fair compensation are inseparable from patient outcomes—and Kaiser knows that.

Kaiser executives can inflate numbers all they want, but they can’t deny staffing issues. That’s the real crisis our caregivers and patients are facing.

• Read an oncology nurse’s firsthand account of staffing issues.
• Read how Kaiser hoards more than $66 billion in unrestricted reserves rather than invest a fraction of it in staff and patient care.
• Read the truth about our union proposals.