2400 striking behavioral health care workers in Southern California have taken to the streets – literally. On February 8, workers sat down in the middle of Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles, blocking traffic in front of Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center. The strikers, members of the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW), blocked traffic until a dozen of them, as well as California Labor Federation President Lorena Gonzalez and other supporters, were arrested. The sit-in marked day 110 of the strike. The strikers want parity with Kaiser’s workers in Northern California, workers who won significant gains in a 2022 10-week strike.

The Southern California workers want their patients to have timely visits. Today, they complain, members (Kaiser has 4.8 million fee paying members it provides services for) can book in for treatment, but frequently endure four weeks or longer for return appointments and treatment. This even though California mandates a maximum wait time of 10 business days for both initial and........

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