Kaiser Permanente, California’s largest health provider, was bracing for a major labor strike of its health care workers Tuesday across the Bay Area and throughout the state.

Barring a late-hour breakthrough in negotiations, passers-by can expect to see picket lines outside of Kaiser hospitals in Oakland and Santa Clara starting Tuesday morning, when 2,800 nurses and other health professionals in Northern California plan to stop work to seek higher pay and staffing improvements.

The strike will kick off at 7 a.m. on Tuesday at the Oakland Medical Center — less than a mile from the health giant’s corporate headquarters — and at the Santa Clara Medical Center. It’s slated to end at 7 p.m. on Sunday. The strike could end early if the two sides reach an agreement.

Pharmacists, midwives and

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