LIHUE — Dozens of nurses at Wilcox Medical Center in Lihue picketed on Wednesday in front of the hospital in a bid to draw attention to their call for safe staffing levels for quality patient care.
The event, which was characterized as an informational picket, came after months of contract negotiations between the Hawai‘i Nurses Association and Wilcox Medical Center management.
The two sides have been negotiating since May. The association, which said it gave a legally required 10-day advance notification of its intent to picket, represents nearly 160 nurses.
“We are picketing for safe staffing and safe patient care not only for our jobs, but most importantly for our community,” said Sonya Balian-Grande, a Women Infant Health nurse at Wilcox Medical Center, in a statement from the Hawai‘i Nurses Association.
“We are simply asking for guaranteed nurse-to-patient ratios and safer staffing numbers in our new contract. Our patients trust us to keep them healthy, safe, and alive and we want to do everything we can to maintain that level of trust and care.”
The informational picket, which drew some in-person support from UNITE HERE Local 5 hotel workers on the island, was not lost on Wilcox Medical Center management.
“Our nurses are an integral part of our Wilcox team and all we do for our community. We remain deeply invested in our nurses and their careers as we continue to listen to their priorities and work with them to reach an agreement,” said Wilcox Medical Center Chief Nurse Executive Darla Sarby in a statement.
“We are offering innovative ways to address staffing and across-the-board wage increases. We want our nurses to benefit from a new contract and we hope to make further progress at this Friday’s negotiation session.”
The informational picket in Lihue came on the heels of a recent settlement between unionized nurses and Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children. That settlement was reached after an 18-day lockout, two strikes and more than a year of negotiations between the two parties with nurse-to-patient ratios being a key issue.
“What is good for one hospital is good for all,” said Hawai‘i Nurses Association President Rosalee Agas-Yuu, who was referencing the Kapi‘olani Medical Center and nurses settlement, in a statement.
“The nurses at Wilcox have been asking for safe staffing levels. We don’t need to go down the same ugly path that Kapiolani chose. The Kauai community cannot afford any disruption of care. Hawaii Pacific Health now has a contract whose terms and conditions can be used as a model for its other hospitals to expedite a settlement.”
•••
Reporter Dennis Fujimoto contributed to this report.
