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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Striking nurses assist in surgery

By Mike Leidemann and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

A Hawai'i man was "doing fine" last night after receiving a kidney transplant from his daughter in an operation assisted by three striking nurses at St. Francis Medical Center earlier in the day.

The three-hour operation went smoothly, and the nurses left the hospital to return to the picket line, said St. Francis spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett.

Nearly 1,400 nurses at three O'ahu hospitals, including St. Francis, remained off the job yesterday as the strike over staffing levels, paid time off, retirement benefits and salary slogged through its third week.

The three striking nurses at St. Francis agreed to help in the transplant operation under a "patients first" agreement between the hospital and the Hawai'i Nurses Association. It was the first transplant operation at the hospital since the strike began Dec. 1.

The kidney recipient was a man in his 50s; the donor was in her 30s, Jarrett said. Both were recovering in the hospital last night, she said.

Representatives of nurses and management at Kuakini Medical Center are scheduled to resume negotiations tonight. No new talks are scheduled at St. Francis or The Queen's Medical Center.

Talks at Queen's, where 800 nurses walked off the job Dec. 2, broke off early yesterday morning after the medical center refused to accept a new wage increase proposal put forward by the nurses, said Gail Tiwanak, vice president of marketing and communications.

Queen's has offered a 21 wage increase over three years and other improved benefits, Tiwanak said.

"HNA's final proposal on the table last night requested a wage increase, which was clearly an unwelcome turn," she said.

However, the latest offer from Queen's still includes language referring to "paid time off," one of the primary causes of the strike, the nurses association said.

The program combines sick, holiday and vacation time off, which Queen's says gives nurses more flexibility in how they use their time while helping the hospital manage its high rate of absenteeism. Nurses say the proposal discourages unscheduled time off, limits access to sick time and would force nurses with chronic illnesses or multiple sick days to use vacation time for such absences.

Although no new talks were scheduled, the hospital still considers itself at the negotiating table, said Lynn Kenton, a Queen's spokeswoman.

"We are reviewing the proposal from last night, and meeting to discuss how we can continue these talks and come to a resolution and bring our nurses back to work," Kenton said.

At Kuakini, a federal mediator is expected to continue working with both parties when talks resume at 8 p.m. today.

"HNA asked Kuakini to consider some increases or changes to our best and final offer," said spokeswoman Donda Spiker. "They wanted us to think about it. We don't know what is going to happen, though, until the next negotiation session."