Striking nurses at Queen's, Kuakini resume talks
| • | 'Flying nurse' helped save 74-year-old |
By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser Staff writer
Striking nurses and management from Queen's and Kuakini medical centers met face to face yesterday, the first negotiations in more than two weeks in a labor dispute that has idled 1,400 O'ahu nurses.
Negotiating teams for the two sides met in separate sessions initiated by the Hawai'i Nurses Association, the nurses' union.
No new negotiations were reported at St. Francis Medical Center, the third hospital struck by nurses.
At Kuakini the talks began at 9 a.m. and ended by late afternoon. "We're talking, and that's better than last week," said Donda Spiker, a spokeswoman for Kuakini.
"Little actual movement was achieved between the parties, but the mediator is still exploring areas that may prove helpful," said Scott Foster, spokesman for the nurses' association.
Another bargaining session is planned for 8 p.m. tomorrow.
At Queen's, negotiators began talking at 3 p.m. and continued into the evening, with the nurses presenting a counterproposal to management, which has said it put its "best and final offer" on the bargaining table before the walkout began earlier this month.
St. Francis Medical Center said it plans to conduct a kidney transplant operation today using up to seven striking nurses under a "patients first" agreement worked out over the weekend. The agreement allows specially skilled nurses to temporarily cross picket lines in emergency situations.
It will be the first transplant operation at the hospital since the strike began, said Maggie Jarrett, a St. Francis spokeswoman. The transplant recipient, who was not identified, will receive a kidney donated from a living relative, she said.
St. Francis is using three replacement nurses to resume full dialysis treatment time for more than 1,000 outpatients, Jarrett said. Earlier in the strike, the hospital had cut the treatment time by up to one-third.
Contract issues vary from hospital to hospital, but include concerns over safe staffing levels, paid time off, retirement benefits and salaries.
Earlier this month, nurses at O'ahu's two other major medical centers, Kaiser and Kapi'olani, approved new contracts that raised the pay for a nurse with two years experience to more than $30 per hour.
