Nurses Strike in CA, Hawaii

January 16, 2026

Summary

Kaiser Permanente nurses, health professionals plan to strike Jan. 26 in California, Hawaii amid stalled contract talks.

Why this matters

The planned strike could affect patient care at major hospitals across two states and highlights ongoing disputes over staffing, pay, and working conditions.

An estimated 31,000 nurses and health professionals at Kaiser Permanente plan to strike on Jan. 26 at facilities across California and Hawaii.

The United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) delivered the required 10-day notice to Kaiser executives, the union said Tuesday.

This marks the second planned walkout by UNAC/UHCP members. A five-day strike in October paused negotiations, but talks have since stalled.

The workers’ contract expired Sept. 30. The union, part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, has been bargaining nationally with Kaiser since May. UNAC/UHCP said Kaiser has not returned to the bargaining table for over a month.

In a statement posted online, Kaiser said the ongoing negotiations represent the longest national bargaining in its history. It said there had been no progress on key economic issues for months and that national talks were paused Dec. 14 following an unspecified incident involving UNAC/UHCP. Kaiser said the union has not resolved that matter.

UNAC/UHCP cited staffing levels, wages tied to rising costs, retirement security, and treatment at the bargaining table as reasons for the strike.

“We’re authorizing a strike to win staffing that protects patients, win workload standards that stop moral injury, and win the respect and dignity Kaiser has denied for far too long,” said Charmaine Morales, UNAC/UHCP president, in a statement.

The union represents registered nurses, pharmacists, nurse anesthetists, midwives, physician assistants, rehabilitation therapists, and dietitians. About 250 of its members are based in Hawaii.

The October strike included other Alliance members, but this notice applies only to UNAC/UHCP.

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Oil rose to a three-week high above $110 a barrel in London as traders awaited the U.S. response to an Iranian proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

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Trump and his national security team are skeptical of the proposal but will continue talks, and the White House is likely to offer a response and counterproposals in the coming days.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Fox News interview aired Monday that Iran appeared to want to retain control of Hormuz, which he said was unacceptable to the U.S. Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas moved through the waterway.

Two Iran-linked oil tankers interdicted by U.S. forces near Sri Lanka last week appeared to have stopped heading west in the Indian Ocean and turned around. The U.S. cordon on shipping to and from Iranian ports began April 13 and has turned away dozens of vessels.