Roughly 3,000 unionized Kaiser Permanente workers in Colorado are expected — without an eleventh-hour agreement — to strike Wednesday.

They’ll be joining more than 70,000 Kaiser employees striking across the country in California, Oregon, Washington, Virginia and the District of Columbia that has been billed the largest in U.S. history.

A strike would also mark the first time Kaiser was unable to reach an agreement in a quarter-century.

Kaiser’s contract with the Service Employees International Union expired on Saturday.

The 3,000 union members expected to picket on Wednesday represents roughly half of the 6,800 employees Kaiser has in Colorado.

Andrew Sorensen, a Kaiser spokesperson in Colorado, said the health system would remain open during the strike. Sorensen, though, provided no additional information about how the health system will operate without its unionized employees.

While Kaiser operates hospitals in other states, the health system serves more than 500,000 Coloradans through its 33 medical offices and “a network of affiliated hospitals and physicians,” according to the organization’s website.

It is unknown if the expected disruption is a concern to public officials.

Conor Cahill, a Gov. Jared Polis spokesperson, declined to comment on Tuesday. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment officials also did not respond to an email from The Denver Gazette seeking comment.

Between 1993 and 2021, the U.S. has had 96 major work stoppages in the health care and social assistance industries, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The majority of these strikes have occurred in hospitals.

In that time, Colorado has had fewer than 10.

The healthcare and social assistance sectors include ambulatory, hospitals, nursing and residential facilities and social assistance, or services provided directly to clients such as vocational rehabilitation, emergency relief, food and housing, among others.

As of December 2021, the United States had 20.2 million employees in the health care and social assistance industries, federal data shows. Roughly, 14% of whom work in California, which has had the highest number of work stoppages since 1993.

The longest strike happened in New York, when nearly 6,000 workers were on strike for 66 days.

Kaiser employees in Colorado have defended the need for a strike over what they characterized as “unfair labor practices.”

On Sept. 22, union officials provided Kaiser a 10-day notice of their intent to strike on Oct. 4-6.

In July, about 1,000 union members in Aurora joined Kaiser employees in California, Washington and Oregon in a coordinated protest of “unsafe staffing and patient care crisis.”

The staffing crisis — union members in Colorado have said — has led to months-long waits and delayed care.

The staffing crisis is not unique to Kaiser, as health officials have sounded the alarm for years.

Over the next three years, Colorado is expected to face a shortage of 54,000 lower wage health care workers and more than 10,000 registered nurses.

To address this, Kaiser has committed to hiring 10,000 union-represented jobs nationally. It is unknown — because officials have not said — how many of those positions will be in Colorado.

Kaiser officials have remained confident throughout the negotiation about reaching an agreement.

“The best place to reach an agreement is at the bargaining table,” Sorensen said in a statement emailed to The Denver Gazette. “We will ask our employees to reject any call to walk away from their jobs, their patients, and their colleagues.”

The union last authorized — but did not employ — a strike in 2019.

Many of the frontline workers who picketed in Aurora over the summer earn less than $25 an hour.

Kaiser has reached tentative agreements for travel for continuing education; the use of temporary workers; tracking staff vacancies and dispute resolution, Sorensen said.

Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and Dr. Sidney Garfield, Kaiser Permanente operates in eight states and the District of Columbia and is one of the largest managed care organizations in the nation.

Kaiser has 30 medical offices along the Front Range, including three in Colorado Springs, that serve more than 500,000 patients annually.