HONOLULU — The Hawaii Nurses’ Association on Tuesday filed 10 days’ notice that its 600 nurses at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children will strike again Sept. 13. It would be a one-day strike on a Friday, shorter than the weeklong strike held in January.
The notice comes after 91% of members voted to authorize a strike over Labor Day weekend. The nurses have been working without a contract since Dec. 1.
HNA President Rose Agas-Yuu says this latest strike is an “unfair labor practices” strike due to alleged harassment by management of employees filling out safe-staffing forms.
These forms, she said, are supposed to be available to employees to report situations, like having too many patients at one time or not having adequate training to care for a particular patient. HNA is encouraging nurses to document these concerns to not only identify the issues, but to help safeguard their own licenses when put at risk for unprofessional conduct.
But some nurses filling out the forms have been reporting harassment from management and a culture of retaliation and intimidation, she said.
“That’s troublesome,” said Agas-Yuu. “We’re using the safe-staffing form as we work toward safe staffing. Instead of fostering a collaborative environment and encouraging open, honest communication, nurses are facing retaliation for sharing their concerns.”
HNA has filed a formal complaint with the National Labor Relations Board against Hawaii Pacific Health, which operates Kapi‘olani Medical Center, she said.
The strike notification comes before the two parties’ scheduled bargaining session Thursday. It also comes as about 5,000 Hawaii hotel workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 went on a three-day strike, which ended today after midnight.
“We are disappointed that HNA decided to go down this path again,” Gidget Ruscetta, Kapi‘olani chief operating officer, in a statement. “Despite receiving another strike notice eight months after the first strike, our commitment will always be to our patients and their families. We want our community to know that our doors will remain open. We will continue to care for the women and children in Hawaii and the Pacific region as we have for more than 100 years.”
Ruscetta said Kapi‘olani values its nurses and presented HNA with a fair and generous offer and has bargained in good faith with the union throughout the negotiations.
“Kapi‘olani consistently showed that it wanted to reach an agreement with its nurses so they could benefit from a new contract that addressed their top priorities,” she said. “Its offer included across-the-board raises, as well as staffing and scheduling enhancements.”
In response to allegations of harassment for filling out staffing forms, Ruscetta said, “We have a strong policy against retaliation in the workplace. We take it very seriously.”
The upcoming walkout would be the second one held this year, after a weeklong strike Jan. 21-28.
After the first strike HNA resumed negotiations, but little resolution appears to have emerged. The talks have stretched on for nearly a year, and at one point involved a federal mediator.
The mediator worked with the two sides for several sessions but left in May because they were too far apart, according to Agas-Yuu.
Ruscetta said the federal mediator is standing by and willing to step in again, and that Kapi‘olani did incorporate feedback from the mediator into its offer.
HNA is primarily pushing for safer nurse-to-patient ratios at Kapi‘olani to avoid nurses being overburdened with too many patients at one time, said Agas-Yuu. Studies have shown these ratios improve nurse retention as well as patient recovery and survival rates.
Hospital management, however, has pushed back, saying fixed ratios are not the solution to staffing shortages and can result in less flexibility and unforeseen consequences.
HNA is also advocating for pay that matches the high cost of living in Hawaii, and adequate training for nurses. Sometimes, Agas-Yuu said, pediatric nurses are asked to care for adult patients, or vice versa, or for health conditions they have not been trained for.
HNA is also negotiating new contracts with The Queen’s Health System for nearly 2,000 nurses and with HPH for about 160 nurses at Wilcox Medical Center on Kauai.
