A five-day strike in California and Hawaii by thousands of unionized Kaiser Permanente registered nurses and other health professionals ended Sunday, with Kaiser and union officials agreeing to resume bargaining on Oct. 22-23, the health care company said.

Kaiser said its facilities were resuming normal operations.

“We are deeply grateful to our front-line care teams who leaned in to ensure the continuity of outstanding patient care last week. Our facilities were staffed by physicians, experienced managers, and trained staff, along with nearly 6,000 contracted nurses, clinicians, and others who worked with us during the strike,” Kaiser said in a statement Sunday morning.

The company added that the focus of the contract talks will be on economic issues.

“While the Alliance has publicly

See Full Page