St. Francis, nurses far from reaching deal
| • | Queen's deal announced |
| • | Patients likely to pay more for fewer services |
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
Negotiators on both sides of the nurses strike at St. Francis Medical Center said today they are still far apart on terms of a new contract.
Negotiations for striking nurses at two other Honolulu hosptials, Kuakini and Queen's medical centers, reached tentative agreements this week.
Nurses have been on strike at all three facilities for just over five weeks.
St. Francis management says financial problems leave the hospital at a disadvantage that their counterparts don't have.
St. Francis officials last week offered about 400 striking nurses a one-year contract that included a 4 percent pay raise. The nurses countered with a three-year proposal with wage increases of 4 percent, 7 percent and 8 percent, which hospital spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett said is "outside of St. Francis' financial means."
Four other hospitals have agreed to pay raises of 20 percent to 21 percent for their nurses.
Jarrett said the hospital is financially strapped because 80 percent of its patients are covered by Medicare or Medicaid, which means lower reimbursements from the federal government for caring for the elderly and the poor.
The head of the state's health-care management organization said St. Francis, a Catholic institution, isn't in a position to pay significant raises, partly because of the religious mission of charity care and because of serious financial problems in recent years.
"It would seem to me that they do have financial problems right now. I think everybody in the community knows that," said Rich Meiers, president and chief executive of the Healthcare Association of Hawai'i. "(The staff) deserve raises; they deserve good things. But if the money is just not there because of the financial situation of the facility ..."
In addition to salary issues, another sticking point in negotiations has been objections by St. Francis nurses to the hospital's plan to eliminate nine care-management nursing positions.
Union collective bargaining director Sue Scheider said 60 striking nurses at St. Francis have found other jobs. She's hopeful that the agreements at the other hospitals will spur St. Francis to change its contract offer.
"If they don't move, then the nurses will move to other jobs," Scheider said.
