More than 60,000 health-care workers on Thursday voted to authorize a strike against Kaiser Permanente if an agreement is not reached when their current contract expires Sept. 30.
Some 4,000 health-care workers in Oregon and Washington state voted to authorize strikes against Kaiser later Thursday.
The labor groups are part of an umbrella organization called the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions that represents 85,000 health-care workers in total.
Kaiser Permanente is one of the largest nonprofit health plans in the U.S. with nearly 13 million members.
Kaiser Permanente, in a statement Thursday, called the unions' claims misleading and urged employees to resist any call for an actual strike.
Persons:
Kaiser, Kaiser Permanente, Dave Regan, Regan
Organizations:
Kaiser Permanente, SEIU, United Healthcare Workers West, Coalition, Kaiser Permanente Unions, D.C, United Healthcare Workers, Kaiser
Locations:
California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Kaiser, U.S