Kaiser Permanente workers rally for AI job protections

Hundreds of employees of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente rallied for a new contract with the health system, including job protections against AI, Hawaii News Now reported.

The workers marched and waved signs outside Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center in Honolulu as union contracts are set to expire for the health system’s staffers around the country, according to the Aug. 16 story.

“We see overall healthcare is becoming a business, and they treat us as business,” Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals President Teri Carvalho Luke, RN, told the news outlet.

This isn’t the first time Kaiser employees have raised concerns about AI, which healthcare leaders say could supplant healthcare jobs in the future. Hundreds of nurses protested the technology in front of Kaiser Permanente’s San Francisco Medical Center in April 2024.

“At Kaiser Permanente, AI tools don’t make medical decisions; our physicians and care teams are always at the center of decision-making with our patients,” a health system spokesperson told Becker’s in 2024. “We believe that AI may be able to help our physicians and employees and enhance our members’ experience.”

Becker’s reached out to Kaiser Permanente for comment for this story.

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