Wahiawa hospital, striking nurses resume talks
By Robbie Dingeman
Advertiser Health Writer
The management and union representing nurses at Wahiawa General Hospital went back to the bargaining table last night as the strike neared the end of its 10th week.
Management was expected to begin the evening session with the federal mediator at the Hawai'i Employers Council with a response to a contract proposal the nurses made last week.
"The nurses are looking very intently at how management will respond, since most of us are trying to decide whether to take permanent jobs at other hospitals," said nurse negotiator Cindy Guerin.
Hospital spokesman Richard Aea said, "It's a good thing that we are talking again."
Aea has said the hospital hired eight traveling nurses to help cover the duties of the strikers.
Sue Scheider, chief negotiator for the union team, said most of the striking registered nurses have found other jobs and been offered permanent nursing positions elsewhere. She said nearly one-fourth of the bargaining unit's members have taken full-time permanent positions at other hospitals and facilities because of dwindling loyalty in the drawn-out dispute over wages and working conditions.
Union members and management said the two sides are not far apart on wages. But there are sticking points in the benefits package, including health insurance, increased pay for workers with higher seniority and greater access to retiree benefits.
Aea said the hospital has presented three offers to the nurses that it believes are affordable, with raises over the three-year contract proposal ranging 15 percent to 19 percent depending on the other benefits offered.
Two of the three hospitals where nurses went on strike late last year — The Queen's Medical Center, Kuakini Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center — reached agreement on a new contract by the seventh week of walkouts there. The last reached agreement in the eighth week.
Nurses at Kuakini and Queen's agreed to pay packages of 21 percent and 20 percent over three years. At St. Francis, nurses ended up with an 18 percent raise.
Before the strikes, O'ahu's "Big Five" hospitals — Queen's, Kuakini, Kaiser, Kapi'olani and St. Francis — paid nurses between $20.55 an hour and $38.86 an hour, which translates to an annual salary, before overtime, ranging from $42,744 to $80,829.
Wahiawa nurses earn $28.60 an hour. Both sides have said that about half of the nurses are full-time and the other half are part-time employees who work at least 20 hours each week.
