Unionized nurses at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children walked off the job and hit the picket line this morning to start a weeklong strike after their union and hospital management failed to come to a contract agreement.
Officials with the Hawaii Nurses’ Association, which represents about 600 nurses at Kapi‘olani, say the strike will last from 7 a.m. today through 6:59 a.m. Jan. 28.
“We just want people to come out and help support us,” Paulette Vasu, HNA treasurer and a labor and delivery nurse at Kapi‘olani, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Saturday. “The more people that come and support us, the better it’s going to be, and it’ll show management how loved we are, at least by the community. And hopefully, they’ll get the message that we are irreplaceable.”
Contract negotiations have been ongoing since September. Nurses contend they are stuck over the union’s demand for staffing ratios that set a maximum number of patients a nurse can care for during a work shift.
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On Jan. 10 and 11, Kapi‘olani presented what it said was its “last, best and final offer,” which included across-the-board raises and longevity pay but, according to HNA, did not address the staffing ratio concern. Hospital management says it offered staffing guidelines that strongly aligned with most of HNA’s proposals.
“We have offered staffing guidelines, which are different from the hard ratios that the union has proposed, and the difference is flexibility,” Gidget Ruscetta, Kapi‘olani’s chief operating officer, told the Star-Advertiser. “We strongly believe that we need the guidelines in place to allow us the flexibility to bring additional nurses in to provide the care that we need for our patients.”
Further negotiations are scheduled for Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. Ruscetta said that hospital management proposed these dates over a week ago, and that the union didn’t respond and agree to the dates until Friday.
“At this date, we are focused on providing patient care and providing uninterrupted quality care during the strike,” Ruscetta said. “We are hopeful that when we go back to the table on the 31st and Feb. 1, we will work towards an agreement so that we can continue to provide services as we always have.”
More than 90% of the unionized nurses at Kapi‘olani voted to authorize the strike on Jan. 5, and the union notified hospital management of the strike Jan. 10. The nurses have worked without a contract since Dec. 1.
Nurses plan to be present on the strike line from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. today and 6 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday.
Star-Advertiser reporter Kacie Yamamoto contributed to this report.
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