In what would be considered the largest strike in the University of California’s history, more than 86,000 union nurses and healthcare professionals within its medical system announced plans Thursday to authorize a two-day strike Nov.17-18.

The contract expiration Oct. 31 for the unionized workers comes at a tough time for UC’s medical facilities , which have been dealing with the economic challenges of rising healthcare and tuition costs at its schools and “uncertainty about federal funding” and “unprecedented financial challenges,” according to the UC.

The three bargaining unions involved in the strike said the Oakland-based UC system has failed to “settle contracts addressing the cost of living and affordability crises” facing the university’s most “vulnerable workers.”

The America

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