‘This Is an Exciting Time for Labor’ Says Syracuse Sociology Professor and Labor Studies Expert

More than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers went on strike on Oct. 4, making it one of the largest in the healthcare industry in U.S. history.

Gretchen Purser is an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She is co-director of the Lender Center for Social Justice and coordinates the Labor Studies Working Group for the Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration.

When the New York State Nurses Association went on strike in January, Professor Purser provided these comments and spoke with several media outlets about the labor efforts.

Professor Purser provides written comments below that can be quoted directly. She is also available for interviews.

Purser says:

“This is an exciting time for labor, as workers across a wide range of industries continue to go out on strike to demand that their employers compensate them adequately given both rising profits and escalating costs of living.

“Workers at Kaiser Permanente, who made extraordinary sacrifices throughout the global pandemic, are overworked and are – similar to the strikes by healthcare workers we’ve seen in recent years – demanding increased staffing. Sufficient staffing is not only crucial to workers’ day-to-day lives, but it’s also crucial for patients and their loved ones, who rely upon health workers for care.”

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