Nurses on Moloka'i digging in for strike

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui County Bureau

Born and raised on Moloka'i, Edwin Mendija always intended to return home and serve the community, and that's exactly what he did four years ago when he took a pay cut to accept a job at Moloka'i General Hospital after an eight-year stint at Maui Memorial Hospital.

But now the 39-year-old registered nurse and father of three children says he's thinking about moving back to Maui or even to the Mainland.

"We're being treated terribly here," he said. "They're not giving us a reason to stay."

Mendija and five other nurses were walking the picket line in Kaunakakai yesterday, demanding a pay raise after going without one for three years. The decision to strike came last week after the hospital refused to give a one-time bonus and 1 percent pay increase that would have totaled less than $5,000 a year for all of the registered nurses.

The nurses acknowledged that they're striking over relatively little. But it's come down to principle, they said, and they're prepared to suffer the hardships.

They also said they believe at least one administrator received a recent pay raise, contrary to what they were told. "The trust factor has been tarnished," said Caroldean Kahue, chief negotiator for the Hawai'i Nurses' Association. "They feel betrayed."

Moloka'i General Hospital co-medical directors Dr. Phillip Reyes and Dr. Emmett Aluli earlier declined to discuss the specifics surrounding the labor disagreement, saying they didn't want to negotiate in the press.

However, administrators have said that the hospital is losing more than $2 million a year.

Yesterday, the strikers heard plenty of honking horns as they marched in front of Moloka'i Family Health Center, the private clinic of Reyes and Aluli. The clinic in downtown Kaunakakai is more visible than the hospital, which is on a hill above town.

The nurses said they have experienced growing support since the strike started on Saturday. Fontes said people have been bringing food and drinks and joining them on the picket line.

Lorraine Pescaia, who held a sign that said, "Fairness, Justice, Equality for Moloka'i RNs," started her career at Shingle Memorial Hospital at Ho'olehua before it was moved to Kaunakakai and the name was changed to Moloka'i General Hospital.

Pescaia said going on strike was extraordinarily difficult for her because she's worried about the type of health care being offered at the hospital. She said that if there was a disaster, she would put down her sign and pitch in "because those are my patients out there. They could be my auntie, my cousin."

But she knows this particular strike is just, she said. Resources have been funneled to other areas of the hospital, while pay for the registered nurses have stood pat. A staff of 12 has been cut in half in recent years, increasing responsibilities, workloads and stress, she said.

"We can't keep people here. We can't recruit. It's not good for Moloka'i."

Moloka'i-born Clorinda Tanaka said she's prepared to lose her job over the strike, if it comes to it.

"There are other jobs," she said. "I can do housekeeping. I can get out and scrub a toilet if I have to."

Gay McGrath said the striking nurses are close and prepared to help each other through whatever hardships they face.

"We all thought about what we would do if we lost our jobs," said McGrath, who is nearing retirement. "We will lean on each other through the hard times."

Arizona Aki was also walking the picket line yesterday. She was fired from her job just last week in what she called a cost-cutting move by hospital administrators. Aki said the case will end up in mediation and arbitration with the union representing her.

Aki, a former military nurse who worked at Tripler Army Medical Center on O'ahu among other places, said working at Moloka'i General is more challenging and taxing than working at larger hospitals, which rely on nurses working a specialty. On Moloka'i, nurses assist in delivering babies, work the emergency room, help long-term care patients and do much more.

"You're thrown from here to there — and it's all in a day's work," she said.

Mendija said the minimal staffing makes the working conditions unbearable sometimes. He said he's depressed and it's affecting his marriage. "I come home and I'm pissed off," he said.

Dino Fontes, a registered nurse and a respiratory-care practitioner, said he's talked to his children and explained the sacrifices they may have to make.

"It's going to be tough but we're going to have to do it," he said.