Farida Yabbala Romero

Workers at one of the picket lines in the Bay Area said they want improved staffing and compensation.

This is the union's third strike since September.

Jessica Servin is a nurse anesthetist in San Francisco.

And it feels necessary to be here.

Absolutely necessary.

We're fighting for our livelihoods.

We're fighting for patient care.

And those things are really important.

The nonprofit Kaiser has made billions of dollars in net income from operations and investments in recent years.

But executives at California's largest private employer say they must balance growing payroll costs with keeping care affordable.

For NPR News, I'm Farida Yabbala Romero in Oakland, California.