UC San Diego Health now faces a possible open-ended strike by roughly 6,500 local employees, by estimate, adding another major labor disruption to a San Diego healthcare market that has seen repeated labor actions in recent years. 

The planned action, set to begin May 14, is part of a broader AFSCME Local 3299 strike across the University of California system. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the UC-wide action would cover 42,000 workers across 10 campuses and five medical centers, with critical care workers exempt. 

Based on prior local reporting, AFSCME Local 3299 expected more than 7,000 UC San Diego Health union workers to strike in an earlier action. A reasonable local estimate is that roughly 6,500 UC San Diego workers may participate if turnout is strong. 

The threatened UC action fits a broader pattern that has become harder to ignore in recent years. 

In October 2023, Kaiser workers in San Diego County joined what unions described as the largest healthcare strike in U.S. history. Axios reported that nearly 4,500 Kaiser workers in San Diego voted to authorize the strike, and KPBS later reported that Kaiser and its unions reached a tentative agreement that included 21% wage increases over four years, with staffing shortages at the center of the dispute.  

By 2024, labor unrest had spread across more local systems. KPBS reported that UC San Diego service and patient-care workers picketed in March and May 2024 over pay, equity, and housing assistance during contract negotiations. 

In July 2024, nurses at Rady Children’s Hospital authorized and then carried out a two-day strike tied to cost-of-living pressures and contract concerns. This tentative agreement was later ratified between the parties, averting the strike at Rady’s.

At Sharp HealthCare, hundreds of workers rallied in August 2024 over stalled bargaining, staffing concerns, and pay. A tentative deal later avoided a threatened strike in November 2024. 

The pace intensified again in 2025. NBC 7 reported that roughly 11,000 service and patient care workers at the UC San Diego campus and medical facilities participated in a one-day statewide strike in April 2025. Later, KPBS and Becker’s coverage tied additional UC San Diego labor conflict to layoffs affecting about 230 employees. 

At Sharp, about 5,800 nurses and healthcare professionals launched a three-day strike in November 2025 over wages, staffing, and sick leave. At Kaiser, local reporting said about 2,000 San Diego workers joined a five-day strike in October 2025 over staffing, pay, and benefits, with strike coverage extending into early 2026.  

Taken together, the record supports a clear trend: healthcare labor unrest in San Diego County has become more visible and spread across more systems since 2023. The drivers are also consistent — staffing shortages, wages lagging behind the cost of living, housing pressure, layoffs, benefits disputes, and allegations of bad-faith bargaining.