Wilcox nurses make contract talk progress

For the first time in their two-month-long strike, officials with the striking Hawaii Nurses Association said they had a positive meeting with Wilcox Memorial Hospital officials yesterday.

HNA Executive Director Aggie Pigao-Cadiz said "there was good movement" at the meeting between the 140-nurse bargaining unit, a federal mediator and officials with the hospital. The nurses have been on strike since June 24.

Both sides presented new proposals for a contract, and the two sides scheduled another meeting for Sept. 5, Pigao-Cadiz added. The nurses have mainly been striking over staff-to-patient ratios at the 71-bed hospital, the lone full-service hospital on Kauai.