Open-ended walkouts involve thousands in U.S. healthcare, as UC workers rally, Spain rail staff plan stoppages, and Vancouver crews authorize action
Nurses at Kaiser Permanente and across a dozen New York City facilities are on open-ended strikes, with roughly 15,000 New York State Nurses Association members in New York 17 days into the action over staffing and safety demands. The walkouts span multiple sites and coincide with additional healthcare labor pressure on the U.S. West Coast, where tens of thousands of Kaiser workers are also on strike.
At the University of California, about 200 UAW Local 4811 members held a “Last Chance” practice picket at UC Santa Barbara on March 12, and two bargaining committees reached full tentative agreements with administrators the next day. Separately, Spain’s SEMAF union scheduled rail strikes in Valencia and Alicante from March 13 to 26, prompting warnings of significant travel disruption. In Canada, the Greater Vancouver Regional District Employees Union said 97.8% of unionized outdoor workers voted to authorize job action. In the U.S. energy sector, more than 800 United Steelworkers Local 7-1 members at BP’s Whiting, Indiana refinery voted 98.3% to reject a contract offer, while 24-hour rolling extensions keep operations running as negotiations continue.
Labor activity this week ranges from open-ended strikes to authorization votes and scheduled stoppages across healthcare, education, transport, and energy in North America and Europe.