Thousands of mental healthcare workers with Kaiser Permanente have been hitting the picket line all week. The strike enters day three Wednesday.

More than 2,400 Kaiser Permanente psychologists, therapists, social workers and other mental health workers in Southern California began an open-ended strike Monday over increased workloads and staffing shortages that their union said have created a “substandard” system of care.

Nearly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities went on strike Monday amid contract talks and allegations of a "broken" system of care, while Kaiser officials say the union has been "slow walking" the negotiation process and planned to strike before labor talks even began.

Unionized mental health workers in Southern California began their strike on Monday to demand better pay, benefits and more staffing.

Nearly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities from San Diego to Bakersfield are poised to strike Monday.

Forty-eight percent of workers said that money and finances are the top source of stress in their lives.

Almost 2,400 Kaiser Permanente mental health workers went on strike Monday in Southern California to demand better pay and more time to treat their patients. The system of care is “broken,” said the National Union of Healthcare Workers, which is representing the striking employees.

Kaiser mental health workers say they are seeing between 10-18 patients a day and are not getting enough time to manage their duties outside of client appointments. They said they want the HMO to provide workers seven hours of guaranteed time per week to handle things like sending emails, filling out patient charts and other duties.

We want to be with our patients, not on a picket line, but we can’t keep working in a system that treats mental health care like an assembly line job,” said a therapist for the