Nearly 2,400 mental health workers at Kaiser Permanente facilities are poised to 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.

More than 2,400 Kaiser Permanente psychologists, therapists, social workers and other mental health workers in Southern California have begun an open-ended strike over increased workloads and staffing shortages.

Workers gathered outside Kaiser hospitals in San Diego and Los Angeles counties Monday morning, launching what is to be an “open-ended” strike of Kaiser mental health care workers throughout Southern California.