Employees, Kapiolani Health
approve tentative contract

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By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.com

The Hawaii Teamsters and Allied Workers Local 996 announced yesterday it has reached a tentative contract with Kapiolani Health.

The union had previously called a strike notice for Sept. 10 after talks between the two sides stalled.

One of the major issues was a Kapiolani proposal that could have reduced workers' sick leave and vacation benefits under certain circumstances.

Currently, employees' have 12 days of paid sick leave. Under the new proposal five of those days would go into a paid time off bank, according to Alan Itomura, overseer for the Teamster's hospital division. But the remaining seven sick days would become extended sick leave and would be paid only after the employee had either been home sick for 24 hours or hospitalized.

Another proposal involved possible elimination of payments for accrued vacation time if an employee was terminated.

Under the current system, if an employee gives notice or is terminated accrued vacation time is paid. But under the new proposal, management would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to pay the employee for accrued vacation if he or she is terminated, said Itomura.

Terms of the tentative agreement were not released but the approximately 170 union members will take a ratification vote tomorrow, said Brian White, communications manager for Kapiolani.

White said he is hopeful that the remaining major sticking points between the union and the hospital were resolved when the two groups met over the weekend.

"Hopefully when they talked on Saturday those things were successfully addressed," he said.

The union's contract expired at the end of June but was extended through July. The union members, who are housekeepers, food service and maintenance workers and other support staff, had been working without a contract since Aug. 1.