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Sisters and Brothers -

Today, in a number of states across the country, more than 75,000 health care workers at Kaiser Permanente are out on strike as part of their fight for better staffing ratios, working conditions, pay and benefits.

These workers are pharmacists, nurses, lab technicians, and other health care personnel.

They are the heroes and heroines who risked everything on the front lines during the pandemic.

They are the people who are there when our babies are born, when we are struggling with disease and illness, and when our loved ones die.

They are there for us when we need them most. Today, we must be there for them in their time of need.

Let’s be clear. These health care workers are not only fighting for the rights and benefits of their members, they are also striking for their patients – for us.

At a time when health care professionals are burnt out after the pandemic and there are severe staffing shortages in the profession, now is the time to provide better pay and working conditions in order to attract more health care professionals into the field and retain those who are already there.

That would result in better health care outcomes for everyone.

A win-win.

But that would impact Kaiser’s bottom line, and therein lies the rub. After all, the business establishment in this country is really not particularly concerned about the well-being of their workers or the quality of health care outcomes.

They are, however, deeply concerned about profit margins, stockholder dividends and CEO compensation.

And the question we should be asking is: how is it that Kaiser – which just reported $2.1 billion in net income during the second quarter of 2023 alone – cannot afford to pay their employees better wages?

How is it that Kaiser – which pays its CEO more than $15 million and gave its former CEO a retirement package of $35 million – can't afford better staffing ratios to improve worker well-being and patient care?

It seems to me that Kaiser's priorities are extraordinarily disjointed.

The function of a rational health care system is to provide quality care to all, regardless of income, in a cost-effective way – not to provide huge profits to a few wealthy CEOs and stockholders.

Now, the bad news is, the cruelty and dysfunction of our health care system has been apparent for a long time – well before the horrific pandemic.
The good news is, the last few years has woken up a large number of Americans to that fact.

Join me in standing in solidarity with the striking Kaiser workers who are fighting not just for better pay and wages, but for high-quality care in hospitals wherever they work.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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👋 Before you go... 👋

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Your individual contributions will make it possible for Bernie to continue supporting working people in fights with employers like Kaiser, Amazon, and the Big Three automakers. In other words, your support helps us continue to grow our political revolution.

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