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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, January 8, 2003

Deal at Queen's 'close'

By Curtis Lum, Robbie Dingeman and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers

Negotiations between striking nurses and The Queen's Medical Center went well into this morning, and a member of the nurses' negotiating team said he was hopeful a contract agreement could be reached soon.

Kuakini Medical Center nurses Cindy Kemmerling, left, and Lisa Nakamoto draw thank-you signs after a tentative agreement was reached to end their six-week strike.

Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

The two sides began meeting at 1:30 p.m. yesterday, and Queen's management submitted a new proposal at about 2:30 p.m., said Queen's spokeswoman Lynn Kenton.

Shortly before 10 p.m., the nurses sent a counterproposal to management.

Bill Richter, a nurse and member of the negotiating team, said the Queen's offer addressed many of the significant issues, including staffing and mandatory overtime. Richter said the nurses made some "minor" changes in its counteroffer and he said he was optimistic that the two sides could reach a settlement.

"At this point, things are actually pretty close and so any amount of adjustment we have is pretty minimal," Richter said at about 10:30 last night.

The Queen's negotiations began on the same day as nurses at Kuakini Medical Center reached a tentative contract agreement.

Sue Scheider, collective bargaining director for the Hawai'i Nurses' Association, said she expects Kuakini nurses will ratify the deal Friday, and she hopes that will nudge nurses and administrators at Queen's and St. Francis Medical Center toward agreements to end the strike, in its sixth week.

"We're hoping it will be the beginning of a trend," Scheider said, "that we'll see a settlement at Queen's and that will provide an impetus for St. Francis to realize that it needs to come into the ballpark with a package that will be competitive."

St. Francis and its nurses have not met since talks broke off Friday. Scheider said she is more optimistic about Queen's not wanting to risk losing experienced nurses to other jobs.

The Kuakini tentative contract agreement, reached at 3 a.m. yesterday, addressed the issues of mandatory overtime and health insurance for retirees, according to the nurses union.

Nurses also would receive a 20 percent pay increase over three years: 7 percent the first year; 6.25 percent the second and 6.75 percent the third, negotiators said.

Pay at Kuakini ranges from $20.55 to $34.84 an hour for the most experienced nurses, so the proposed increase would take that pay to a range of $24.66 to $41.81 an hour, or between $42,744 and $86,965 a year before overtime.

"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."

About 225 Kuakini nurses walked off the job Dec. 2.

Administrators for Kuakini would not discuss details of the agreement, but were optimistic about an end to the strike.

"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."

Nurse and negotiator David Haga said members are especially pleased about the cut in mandatory overtime. Under the old contract, nurses who worked a 12-hour shift could be required to stay an additional four hours. Under the new agreement, the maximum length of a shift would be 14 hours.

Haga said the agreement also would have management call a local agency for nurses first and turn to the voluntary on-call list of employees who want to work overtime before requiring nurses to stay. And, Haga said, many Kuakini nurses are concerned about medical care for retirees.

Spiker said employer-paid health plans are a major cost item and that Kuakini does not have a paid health plan for retiring employees. Under the agreement, Scheider said Kuakini nurses would have access to the same plan as active employees, which should provide considerable savings to those who retire before age 65.