As tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente health care employees approach the end of a five-day, multi-state walkout on Sunday, both sides said they’ll return to the bargaining table over the central dispute: how much of the union’s pay-hike demands the nonprofit’s executives will agree to.

The stakes are high for Kaiser, the largest private employer in the state. The national contract, months in negotiation with the Alliance of Healthcare Unions, covers nearly 61,000 nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists and other frontline workers — about a third of Kaiser’s workforce — though roughly a quarter of those represented declined to go on strike.

Experts say the organization must tread carefully in talks amid rising costs and economic headwinds.

“We remain committed to reaching an

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