Movement fails to net
nurse deal at Kuakini
By Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comAlmost nine hours of negotiations which began Wednesday evening brought the Hawaii Nurses Association and Kuakini Medical Center closer together, but not enough to reach a deal.
"We presented them with a settlement offer which among other things addressed the two issues that HNA said were the sticking points: retiree medical benefits and mandatory overtime," said Kuakini spokeswoman Donda Spiker.
About 1,400 nurses from Kuakini, The Queen's Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center have been on strike since the beginning of the month.
Kuakini offered to set up a separately administered health plan for nurse retirees not yet eligible for federal Medicare benefits. Health insurance premiums would still be paid by the nurses. However, the nurses want retirees to be included in the same group plan as active employees rather than be separated out, said Kerry Lineham, a nurses union negotiator.
"We didn't ask for a contribution from (Kuakini) but we want to be in the same group as the active employees. Otherwise very shortly the plan would become prohibitively expensive with only an older group covered," Lineham said.
The two sides also disagree over mandatory overtime.
Kuakini proposed eventually eliminating all mandatory overtime, Spiker said. In the first year, nurses would work no more than 14 hours in a shift, she said.
Kuakini would then introduce a list of volunteers willing to work overtime.
Should the need arise, volunteers would first be asked to work. If there were not enough nurses to fill the available slots, the hospital would then turn to nurses supplied by outside staffing agencies, Spiker said.
During the second year of the new procedure, the hospital would also eliminate the 36/48 hour two-week work period currently in place. The new period would leave the 36 hours in place for the first week and cut the second week to 40 hours. Kuakini would thereby avoid having to pay overtime in the second week and would hire additional nurses to cover the lost man hours, Spiker said.
However, the union did not have a problem with the 36/48 hour schedule, Lineham said.
"That's a normal practice for us. The 48-hour week is not as stressful as being mandated to stay for a 16-hour shift," he said.
The union also believes language in the hospital proposal relating to maximum consecutive hours worked is not strong enough, Lineham said.
"The hospital was saying it was their intent not to go over 14 hours. We wanted stronger language. In the past they have used mandatory overtime as a staffing tool as opposed to an emergency procedure only. The word 'intent' didn't sound safe enough," he said.
The union also believes Kuakini may have difficulty recruiting enough nurses to fill positions to make up for lost work hours.
"Our contention is that it would be hard to replace nurses in a very poor job market," Lineham said.
Nurses also offered to restructure the hospital's pay increase offer to provide an additional longevity increase for workers close to retirement in the next few years, he said. The overall cost of pay increases would not change, he said.
Despite disagreements between the two sides over the latest proposals, Lineham said he is still hopeful the hospital may return to the bargaining table once it's had more time to digest the union's counterproposal.
"Our hope is that they'll have a chance to really go over the proposal. There was a lot of information to go over," he said.
Kuakini's Spiker said she is still optimistic the two sides can get together. But she said the hospital's latest offer is only good until 4:30 p.m. today.
"We're hoping they'll review what we proposed and bring it back to their members. We think it's a generous offer," she said.
No new talks are scheduled with the two remaining hospitals affected by the strike, Queen's and St. Francis.
The union staged a march this morning that was heading for a rally downtown at Thomas Square.
St. Francis Healthcare System
Queen's Medical Center
Kuakini Health System
