The summer of Strike has entered its fall season, as nearly 75,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers across six states are on the last of day of their three-day walkout. This strike by Kaiser staff including X-ray operators, surgical technicians and nursing assistants is now one of the biggest health care work stoppages in U.S. history — involving over 20,000 workers in the Bay Area alone.

Kaiser is one of California’s largest private insurers — and its workers have joined thousands of other strikers that brought California’s labor issues national attention, such as the writers guild and actors guild in Hollywood, and one that centered on the hotel industry in Los Angeles.

Labor action like this in the United States has gone down in recent decades. These decreases — noticeable during the recession — are attributed to the growth of the service industry, technology, and declining union membership, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

However, when measured by the number of workers walking off the job, some of California’s biggest strikes have taken place in recent years — although these walkouts may also include workers from other states (such as the current Kaiser Permanente protests, which includes states like Colorado and Washington).

Here are a few of the biggest labor strikes in California since 1993, according to BLS data. This data includes work stoppages that involve 1,000 workers or more, and the number of workers at the beginning of the strike are rounded to the nearest hundred.

1. The current actors strike

How many workers on strike? Around 160,000.

Following its writers equivalent, the SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) went on strike this July, bringing Hollywood to a standstill. The actors union is still out picketing over declining pay, residuals in the age of streaming, and the threat of AI.

The writers strike recently ended — and SAG-AFTRA is planning to meet with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers Friday and next week for more negotiations.

2. Actors, this time from the 2000s

How many workers on strike? Around 135,000.

A little over twenty years prior, SAG and AFTRA (then two different unions) went on strike from May 2000 to the end of October 2000, with William Daniels — Mr. Feeny from Boy Meets World — as the SAG president.

It was contentious among actors, as the strike’s purpose was to argue over how their members were compensated in commercials and led to some non-union actors breaking picket lines and shooting advertisements anyway.

3. The 2003–2004 Southern California supermarket strikes

How many workers on strike? Around 67,300.

From October 2003 to February 2004, workers went on strike against Albertsons, Ralphs and Vons Markets after losing some of their health care benefits — although the number of those striking decreased as time went on.

The chains in question lost a combined $1.5 billion, according to the Los Angeles Times.

4. Los Angeles Unified School District strikes this year

How many workers on strike? Around 65,000.

For three days in March, education workers — specifically bus drivers, custodians, and cafeteria workers — went on strike for higher wages to live in an increasingly pricey Southern California, halting classes for over 400,000 students.

5. University of California in 2018

How many workers on strike? Around 53,000.

For three days in May, thousands of custodians, security guards, gardeners and other service workers at the University of California’s ten campuses went on strike to address pay inequalities. Nurses, pharmacies, radiologists, and medical workers then joined the walkouts in a “sympathy strike.”

6. University of California’s walkout last year

How many workers on strike? Around 48,000.

The University of California’s ten campuses again saw a strike, this time in 2022 in what was the largest strike in the history of U.S. higher education. Workers included researchers, postdoctoral scholars, tutors and more.