The relationship between the workforce that treats America’s patients and the health systems that employ them is fraying, and the more than 75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers on strike this week are just the latest example.

The year started with 7,000 NYC nurses across two hospital systems going on strike. Now, as autumn sets in, 10 times that many health care workers are striking in one of the best-known health systems in the country — one that had, until now, been something of a model for successful labor-management relationships in the health care industry. The striking workers have said this will be a three-day action, though as of Thursday morning, there was little evidence of a resolution between the unions and Kaiser Permanente.

Medical doctors and registered nurses are not among those on strike. But other support staff upon whom patients’ care depends — including licensed practical nurses and nursing assistants — are walking out because they, like many nurses since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, find their work conditions intolerable.