Kaiser and SEIU-UHW officials didn't meet Thursday or Friday and said the next bargaining session is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 12.

Roughly half of Californians with private health insurance receive medical care from Kaiser Permanente.

The health system failed to reach a new contract agreement with some of its unionized employees, who today began a three-day job action at Kaiser facilities in California and several other states.

Striking workers would have been eligible to collect California unemployment benefits under a bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed. He said the state can’t afford it. 

The city unions’ call for a three-day strike beginning Aug. 15 had been put on hold for 24 hours Monday, giving the council a chance to approve the deal.

The unions are seeking a 7% pay increase, and complain that many city departments are understaffed. The city in June said its final pay offer was 5% the first year of the contract, 4% the second, and 3% the third.

Possible three-day strike looms, as Mayor Mahan warns money is tight.

More than 12,000 county workers will get a 5% raise this fiscal year, followed by two years of annual increases of 4%, plus a $1,200 one-time payment.

Residents in single-family dwellings whose collection day was Friday should leave their recycling carts out today until the material is collected. Residents who have junk pickup service scheduled for Friday, should leave their items out to be collected today,

Starting today, as many as 48,000 University of California academic workers — including teaching assistants, postdoctoral scholars and graduate student researchers — are set to strike at all 10 UC campuses, a move that could cause some classes, grading and lab work to grind to a halt just weeks ahead of final exams.

The four-day strike would have shut down most non-emergency and outpatient services at Santa Clara County hospitals and clinics.

The strike begins Monday at Kaiser facilities in Fresno, Sacramento, San Francisco and in San Jose at Kaiser’s San Jose Medical Center on Hospital Parkway. The Kaiser facility at the Santa Clara Medical Office Building on Lawrence Expressway also is one of the strike targets.

Hundreds of health care and support workers at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City are striking today, calling for better working conditions and a new contract. Picketing began at 6 a.m. at the hospital located at 170 Alameda de las Pulgas. Nurses assistants, aides, surgical technologists, respiratory therapists, cooks and others took part in the demonstration, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 829.

The Stanford strike comes at a time of labor turmoil among nursing staffs at hospitals across the state. Stanford contract negotiations are to resume on Tuesday.

CSU Students apparently won't be affected by a faculty walkout in the spring. as the state university system and its faculty union announce a tentative contract that includes raises and a COVID-19 bonus.

Up to 40,000 union members at the health care giant are expected to protest in solidarity with striking engineers across the Bay Area and Sacramento.