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The Honolulu Advertiser

Posted on: Tuesday, April 15, 2003

Wahiawa nurses authorize strike

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

The 68 registered nurses at Wahiawa General Hospital, whose contract expires today, have authorized a strike and could be on picket lines as soon as April 25.

The nurses on Sunday rejected management's "best and final offer" and were to present the hospital with a strike notice today. Law requires a 10-day notice to management before nurses can go on strike, but it was not known yesterday when the notice would take effect.

The two sides have been meeting since March 13 and are scheduled to meet with a federal mediator today.

Hospital officials yesterday declined to comment.

Sue Scheider, collective bargaining director for the Hawai'i Nurses' Association, said the nurses and hospital are "very far apart." She said the major issues include wages, health insurance, mandatory overtime and access to retiree medical benefits.

But Scheider said the nurses also are seeking "longevity steps" that would reward nurses who have been with the hospital with more pay than nurses who have been with the facility for only a short time.

"At Wahiawa, a nurse with two years of experience gets paid the same as a nurse with 20 years of experience," she said. Nurses are paid about $28.60 an hour.

Scheider said the hospital's final two offers called for 19 percent and 17 percent wage increases over three years, but she said the increases are offset by management plans to increase nurses' share of healthcare costs.

"They've been unwilling to come up to the competitive standards that exist among the other hospitals," Scheider said of the hospital's management. "They're already working at a disadvantage because it's hard to recruit people to a rural hospital."

The 162-bed facility includes 103 beds in the long-term-care facility, as well as an intermediate care facility, intensive care unit and emergency room. It is the only 24-hour primary and emergency care medical facility between 'Ewa and Kahuku.

Should the nurses strike, it would be the fourth walkout at an O'ahu hospital in five months.

In December, nearly 1,400 nurses at Queen's, St. Francis and Kuakini hospitals went on strike. The strikes lasted for more than a month and were characterized by often bitter negotiations.