Strike looms for St. Francis nurses

By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer

While nurses and officials from two of the "big five" hospitals negotiated through the day, and a third was making plans yesterday to return next week, at least one hospital was making preparations for a possible strike Monday.

The Hawaii Nurses Association and officials from The Queen's Medical Center and Kapi'olani Medical Center continued negotiating late into the evening yesterday, and negotiations with Kuakini are scheduled to resume tomorrow. Officials from those organizations said they were cautiously optimistic that a tentative agreement reached Thursday with Kaiser hospital might spell the beginning of a positive trend for the nurses and their employers.

But with a strike deadline at 7 a.m. Monday, St. Francis Medical Center was refusing to return to the bargaining table.

"We made our best and final offer," Maggie Jarrett, St. Francis spokeswoman, said last night. "And they rejected it on Monday."

Jarrett said St. Francis Medical Center-West, which is under a separate contract, would continue to function as usual in the event of a strike. However, St. Francis Medical Center at Liliha will severely curtail services beginning Monday if the nurses walk out.

The ambulance service on O'ahu has been told to stop bringing patients to the St. Francis emergency room, she said. Doctors have been asked to discharge as many patients as they can safely send home. Dialysis and hospice programs will be curtailed in the event of a strike, and nurses who are managers and supervisors will take over care of the remaining patients.

Claudine Tomasa, a labor relations specialist with HNA, said the union is prepared to return to the table with St. Francis.

Nurses at Kaiser are scheduled to vote midweek on whether to accept the tentative contract with their employer.