Kuakini nurses reach tentative agreement

By Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writer

After a day of tense talks and complaints about the pace of negotiations, Kuakini Medical Center and negotiators for its striking nurses reached a tentative contract settlement early today.

Union representatives hope the nurses will ratify the tentative contract Thursday or Friday.

The tentative contract agreement, reached at 3 a.m. today, settled the issues of mandatory overtime, retirement benefits and safe staffing levels, according to the Hawai'i Nurses' Association. A 20 percent wage increase over three years also is being offered.

"The success I am most proud of is that we won real restrictions against mandatory overtime," said Arlene Pascual, a nurse negotiator. "Even though striking has been hard, it will have been worth it if it improves patient care and working conditions."

Nurses will remain on the picket line, however, until a contract is ratified, said Sue Scheider, collective bargaining director for HNA.

Before a vote can be taken, the two sides need to settle a "return to work" agreement and are scheduled to begin discussing that at 6 p.m. tomorrow, Scheider said. Questions about resuming benefits, work shifts and previously scheduled vacations, among other issues, must be answered, she said.

About 225 Kuakini nurses walked off the job Dec. 2, the same day that nearly 600 nurses from St. Francis Medical Center also went on strike. The next day, 800 nurses at The Queen's Medical Center went on strike.

No talks are scheduled for St. Francis nurses, but Queen's and nurse negotiators were to resume talks at 1:30 p.m. today.

Administrators for Kuakini would not discuss the tentative agreement, but were pleased nonetheless.

"We are happy to have reached a tentative settlement after more than 16 hours of negotiations," said hospital spokeswoman Donda Spiker. "We hope the union members will respond favorably to the terms of the contract. We look forward to having our registered nurses come back to work."

Scheider did not know what prompted the hospital to change its bargaining stance.

"It was such a wonderful surprise," Sheider said today. "We weren't encouraged at all and all of a sudden, things changed. They made some real movement and were able to get to yes."

She said the hospital agreed to a new system of dealing with mandatory overtime.

Nurses would not be required to work more than 14 consecutive hours, down from 16. Before mandatory overtime was imposed, temporary nurses would be called, Scheider said. The hospital also agreed to keep track of overtime hours so both sides could study the issue later, if desired, she said.

Under terms for retiree medical benefits, nurses are eligible before and after Medicare.

Scheider said she was proud of the solidarity displayed by "the brave nurses" over the past five weeks.

"Only three nurses crossed the line during the entire strike," she said.