Kaiser Permanente workers strike for better pay and patient safety

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Thousands of nurses and frontline health care workers across California, with the United Nurses Associations of California, started a five-day strike Tuesday at Kaiser Permanente facilities. The workers say they're fighting not just for better pay, but for the future of patient care.

"We want to make sure that we have enough nurses at the frontline to be able to do the work that needs to be done to provide quality patient care," said Grace Bidin, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente.

Bidin says she and fellow health care workers feel they are understaffed and that Kaiser management is unwilling to bargain with them.

"I am part of the bargaining team, and we were there in Pasadena for a week, and they never showed up," Bidin said.

Melanie Claro, a nurse p