Hi {{first_name|nurse,}}
There’s a new strike date in the Kaiser story.
UFCW 770 says Kaiser pharmacy and lab workers in Southern California have issued a 10-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike notice, with a walkout set for Monday, Feb 9, 2026. They’re talking about pharmacy and lab roles across multiple SoCal counties.
Now, if you’re thinking:
“Okay… but I don’t work at Kaiser.”
Or: “Okay… but how does this help me?”
That’s the right question.
So here’s the honest version.
What’s in it for you?
1) You’ll feel it even if you’re not Kaiser
Healthcare is a shared ecosystem. When a big system gets shaky, everything around it feels it.
Patients bounce between systems.
Travelers and per diems move around.
Urgent care and EDs spill into each other.
When one big place slows down, nearby places get louder.
2) This isn’t “just a strike.” It’s labs + meds.
If staffing disruptions touch labs and pharmacy, nurses take the hit.
Not politically. Practically.
This is what lands on you:
“Why hasn’t the troponin resulted yet?”
“Can we re-draw? Did it hemolyze?”
“Why isn’t the antibiotic verified?”
“Can you call pharmacy again?”
“Family’s mad. Patient’s scared. Can you explain?”
And the worst part?
You’re explaining delays you didn’t cause… while still being expected to keep everything safe.
3) It changes how your shift feels
Even when the patient load stays the same, your shift gets heavier:
More follow-ups
More checkbacks
More “just one more call”
More emotional labor
More chances for errors, simply from fatigue
That’s the “what’s in it for you.”
Why should you care?
You should care for one selfish reason:
You deserve fewer chaos days.
And the only way chaos days shrink is when the people doing the work have enough support and enough staffing to actually do it safely.
These fights — staffing, retention, workload, respect — show up in every system, under different names.
So even if this news isn’t your hospital, it’s still your profession. 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.
Our honest thoughts
A lot of nurses don’t want a strike.
They want a normal shift.
They want:
enough hands on the floor
a break that’s a real break
time to educate patients without rushing
staffing that doesn’t make you feel like you’re choosing who gets safer care today
A strike notice is paperwork, yes.
But it’s also a message that sounds like:
“We’ve been saying this nicely for a long time.”
If this update felt heavy, you’re not being dramatic. You’re paying attention.
It is hard to love a job that keeps asking you to sacrifice yourself to prove you care.
Wherever you work, I hope your next shift lets you do nursing the way you meant to when you chose this path.
Talk soon,
Jason
Map My Pay
This Week’s Insider Sample: $100/hour RN Roles
A small snapshot of the roles + pay ranges members get weekly
This is just a slice of the Insider feed. We filter out the noise, verify the good stuff, then lay it out so you can scan rates and details fast.
Here’s a sample from this week’s listings:
Title | Hospital/City | Hrs/Wk | Hourly Rate | LINK |
|---|
ICU RN | Fremont | 36 | $88–$117 | |
OR RN 🔥 | Palo Alto | 40 | $93–$107 | |
RN - Cancer Clinic | Los Gatos, CA | 40 | $89.40–$116.78/hr |
👀 Want the full $100/hour board?
Insider members get first dibs, verified pay info, and plug-and-play scripts for recruiters and managers.
Get every update, every week—before these jobs fill.
This is your “should I move?” calculator.
Pay changes. Housing changes. Your schedule changes. Map My Pay lets you plug it in and see what your week could actually pay.
Inside Map My Pay:
🧾 After-tax pay estimates city by city
🏠 Money left after housing
📊 Quick city comparisons
⏱️ Role/shift/OT filters
👩⚕️ Nurse-only receipts and real talk
Download the Map My Pay app and compare your next move in minutes.