Vocational Nurses, Techs Ready 30,000-Worker California Strike
Source: Bloomberg Law
May 5, 2026, 4:15 AM CDT
George Weykamp
An impending strike at the University of California hospital system adds to a growing list of high-profile work stoppages among healthcare employees faced with a tightening labor market and rising consumer costs.
About 42,000 workers organized with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299 are set to walk off the job May 14 in an unfair labor practice strike across all 10 University of California campuses. Roughly 30,000 of them work at medical centers, laboratories, and other health facilities across the UC hospital system, the union said.
It would be the latest in a series of strikes among healthcare workers who are demanding improved staffing levels and higher wages. Earlier this year, employees at New York City hospitals and Kaiser Permanente locations in Los Angeles and Hawaii stopped working for several weeks over similar concerns.
Strikes in the healthcare and social assistance sector soared by 58% last year to 57 from 36 in 2024, though the total across all industries was down about 16%, according to annual reports from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. Nearly 117,000 workers participated in the sector’s 2025 walkouts, over 150% more than 2024, the reports show.
Medical center workers with AFSCME Local 3299 staged a two-day walkout at the University of California, Irvine's hospital in Orange in November 2025. A May 14 strike across the systems 10 hospitals is looming linked to unfair labor practice claims.
Photographer: Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
Read more: https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/vocational-nurses-techs-ready-30-000-worker-california-strike
I'm a retired AFSCME member.