--- title: California Nurses Strike Over Ebola Preparedness, Poor Patient Care description: Almost 20,000 nurses went on strike in California on Tuesday, ahead of national protests planned for Wednesday canonical: https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/ author: Elizabeth Barber article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-12T05:46:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:22:41.199Z article:section: Health og:title: California Nurses Strike Over Ebola og:description: Almost 20,000 nurses went on strike in the Golden State on Tuesday og:url: https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e506717ea61b98/6987684d524fc06090deaac8/nurses-strike_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4237 og:image:height: 2383 og:image:alt: Nurses Strike og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: California Nurses Strike Over Ebola twitter:description: Almost 20,000 nurses went on strike in the Golden State on Tuesday twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e506717ea61b98/6987684d524fc06090deaac8/nurses-strike_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # California Nurses Strike Over Ebola Preparedness > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Elizabeth Barber](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Nov 12, 2014 5:46 AM UTC  Registered nurses and supporters protest outside of a Kaiser Permanente facility in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Registered nurses and supporters protest outside of a Kaiser Permanente facility in San Francisco, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014. Jeff Chiu—AP by [Elizabeth Barber](https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/) ## Elizabeth Barber Nov 12, 2014 5:46 AM UTC Almost 20,000 nurses went [on strike](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-usa-nurses-california-idUSKCN0IW04K20141112) in California on Tuesday, ahead of national protests planned for Wednesday over what union leaders deem a lack of protection for nurses who might treat Ebola patients. The two-day strike is organized by National Nurses United and will affect 88 hospitals in the Golden State, 86 of which are owned by Kaiser Permanente, Reuters reports. The larger national strike will involve 100,000 nurses in 15 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. “Inadequate preparedness for Ebola symbolizes the erosion of patient care standards generally,” a spokesman for National Nurses United told Reuters, adding that numerous other patient care issues, including under-staffing, have been “stonewalled and ignored.” National Nurses United is in the midst of contract talks. In rebuttal to the union, an ad published in the Sacramento _Bee_ by Kaiser over the weekend called the strikes counterproductive to making sure that U.S. hospitals are ready for any future Ebola cases. “There is never a good time for a strike,” it read. “Calling one now, just as we are entering the flu season, and when the nation and our members are concerned about the risk of Ebola, seems [particularly irresponsible](http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/article3734592.html).” Several U.S. agencies and groups, including National Nurses United, have jostled over where to put fault after two nurses who treated an Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital contracted the virus. Both nurses have recovered, and there are no current Ebola cases in the U.S. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-usa-nurses-california-idUSKCN0IW04K20141112)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/"},"headline":"California Nurses Strike Over Ebola Preparedness","datePublished":"2014-11-12T05:46:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:22:41.199Z","description":"A lack of preparedness for possible Ebola cases is symptomatic of a more general erosion in patient care standards, claims National Nurses United","url":"https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/","keywords":["ebola","California","strike"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e506717ea61b98/6987684d524fc06090deaac8/nurses-strike_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Elizabeth Barber","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/elizabeth-barber/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt85e506717ea61b98/6987684d524fc06090deaac8/nurses-strike_wong.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Nurses Strike","caption":"Nurses Strike","creditText":"Jeff Chiu—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/ebola/","name":"ebola"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3580028/california-nurses-strike-ebola-union-kaiser-permanente/","name":"California Nurses Strike Over Ebola Preparedness"}}]}] ```