Hi {{first_name|nurse,}}
If you’ve felt tired in a way sleep can’t fix… you’re not imagining it.
Mid-January brought news that hit a lot of nurses right in the chest: tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses and healthcare workers in California and Hawaii have issued a 10-day strike notice, with a possible walkout starting around Monday, January 26, 2026.
That’s a huge number of people. And behind that number is something even bigger:
A lot of nurses are saying, “We can’t keep doing it like this.”
What’s going on (plain and simple)
A large group of nurses and healthcare workers at Kaiser facilities in California and Hawaiʻi has filed a 10-day strike notice.
If nothing changes, walkouts could begin around January 26, 2026.
The heart of it is familiar: safe staffing, patient care conditions, and being taken seriously at the table.
No hype. No dramatics.
Just the reality that people don’t reach for a strike notice on a “good week.”
Why this feels personal — even if you don’t work at Kaiser
This isn’t only about one employer.
It’s about that moment you look at your assignment and feel your stomach drop.
It’s about being asked to do the work of three people… and still being expected to smile at the desk.
It’s about going home and replaying the shift in your head, wondering if you missed something — while your body is begging you to stop thinking.
A strike notice is paperwork, sure.
But it’s also a message.
And the message is usually:
“We’ve been saying this nicely for a long time.”
The part nobody says out loud
A lot of nurses don’t want a strike.
They want a normal shift.
They want:
enough hands on the floor
time to do patient education without cutting corners
a break that isn’t “two bites of a granola bar while charting”
staffing that doesn’t make you feel like you’re choosing who gets safer care today
When nurses get close to walking out, it’s rarely about a single thing. It’s about the slow build of being stretched thin until it starts to feel unsafe — and unfair — for everyone.
If you’re a nurse reading this and feeling tense
Even if this isn’t your hospital system… your body recognizes the story.
So here’s a small check-in:
If you’ve been feeling extra irritable lately, it might be exhaustion — not your personality.
If you’ve been feeling numb, it might be your brain trying to protect you.
If you’ve been thinking, “Is it just me?” — it’s not.
What to watch next (without doom-scrolling)
Between now and Jan 26, here’s what matters:
Are both sides still set to meet and negotiate?
Are there updates on staffing language or patient care protections?
If a strike happens, what are the plans for coverage and patient safety?
If you work at Kaiser, you’ll likely hear more internally soon. If you don’t, this still gives you a pulse-check on where the profession is at right now.
Final thoughts
If this news made you feel heavy, that makes sense.
It’s hard to love a job that keeps asking you to sacrifice yourself to prove you care.
Wherever you work, I hope you get the kind of shift that lets you do nursing the way you meant to when you chose this career.
And if your workplace has been feeling tense too — keep talking to each other. Keep documenting. Keep pushing for what patients and nurses actually need.
You’re not “complaining.”
You’re paying attention.
Talk soon,
Jason
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