KEN IGE / KIGE@STARBULLETIN.COM
Kuakini nurses, from left, Myrna Saldevar, Leimomi Fukuda, Ellie Dulay, SheilaWells and Pattie Vatalaro walked the picket line Tuesday. Nurses at the hospital vote today on a new contract.
Kuakini nurses Kuakini Medical Center's 210 nurses will vote today on whether to ratify their new contract.
cast votes today
The hospital and union spent over
20 hours negotiating return-to-work planBy Lyn Danninger
ldanninger@starbulletin.comNurses will vote between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. at the Laborer's International Union headquarters on Palama Street.
The vote comes after the union met for more than 20 hours with hospital officials to hammer out details of returning striking nurses to work. The talks, which began around 7:30 p.m. Wednesday did not conclude until after 3 yesterday afternoon.
Hawaii Nurses Association negotiators at the meeting complained the hospital tried to make additional changes to staffing assignments by closing some units permanently that had been consolidated into other areas of the hospital when the strike first began.
"The main thing is that they were talking about keeping units closed," union negotiator Kerry Lineham said. "From what I understand it would be one complete floor so they indicated that those nurses who worked there may not be required. That means they may not get any work for a while."
No details of the final agreement were available, but Kuakini Medical Center spokeswoman Donda Spiker said the hospital was not planning any layoffs.
Lineham said the negotiations were not the time to be talking about closing floors or units.
"They are not supposed to do any consolidation of units or talk about closing floors without HNA input. This was not the right forum," he said.
Lineham said nurses understand it will take time for the hospital to return to the number of patients it cared for before the strike. "We said we would give them about one month to re-open the floors," he said.
Major points in the settlement Kuakini nurses are voting on include a 20 percent salary increase over the three-year contract, and stronger language addressing the elimination of mandatory overtime and when the hospital will turn to an outside staffing agency to fill vacant positions. The deal also changes the hospital's plan to eliminate the 36/48 hour two-week work period. Nurse retirees also got access to a medical plan.
Nurses from Queen's Medical Center have yet to set a date for the vote on their proposed contract. But the union is holding meetings over the weekend to give the nurses details of the agreement. Similarly, no date has been set for the union to negotiate a return to work agreement with Queen's officials.
Striking nurses at St. Francis Medical Center continue to picket without any negotiations scheduled.
St. Francis Healthcare System
Queen's Medical Center
Kuakini Health System
