Kaiser Permanente nurses strike over contract issues

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- About 18,000 nurses in Central and Northern California are striking on Tuesday

Patients received notice of a strike at Kaiser in North Fresno last week, and at 7 a.m. Tuesday nurses walked off the job and began picketing.

Close to 200 nurses were holding signs outside the largest Kaiser facility in the Central Valley.

Inside the medical center, Kaiser Permanente officials say patients are still being seen by nurses that have been hired temporarily and the strike is not affecting care members are receiving. However, all elective and non-emergency surgeries have been canceled until Thursday.

Those nurses who are striking say they are not asking for more money, in fact, many nurses out here told me they are well paid. However, over the past several years, they say open positions have not been filled and equipment they need to provide the best care is not available.

"We also have an influx of patients from the Affordable Care Act to where we are seeing more patients and that are sicker patients for our patient population, and for that we would like to have more staffing. We would like to have the proper equipment to take care of these sicker patients. And right now, Kaiser is not providing that equipment," said Cathy Davis, Registered Nurse.

Ten days ago, the California Nurses Association gave hospital administrators a warning about the strike, that will last 48 hours. So for 12 hours Tuesday and Wednesday, nurses will be protesting.

We will bring you the latest, on Action News at Four, Five and Six.