Talks at Queen's, Kuakini to resume

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

As striking nurses enter a third week of walking picket lines at three major O'ahu hospitals, talks are set to resume today for Kuakini Medical Center and The Queen's Medical Center.

The negotiations will be the first for both Kuakini and Queen's since the nurses walked out.

Donda Spiker, a spokeswoman for Kuakini, said a federal mediator contacted that hospital late Friday to request a meeting at 9 a.m. today.

Sue Scheider of the Hawai'i Nurses Association said although the nurses have a counterproposal for Queen's when negotiations with that employer resume this afternoon, they have no formal proposal for Kuakini.

"We're going to see if we can work something out at the table," said Scheider, the union's director of collective bargaining.

The Queen's negotiations are set to begin at 3 p.m.

St. Francis nurses, who are also on strike, do not have a date for negotiations to resume. The Hawai'i Nurses Association and the hospital have hammered out an agreement for specially skilled nurses, such as those who work with transplant patients, to cross the picket lines in emergency situations.

Scheider said she hoped that agreement would propel the nurses and St. Francis toward negotiations soon.

The staff at St. Francis West is not on strike.