Lester Chang, The Garden Island, September 2, 2006 Contract negotiators for Hawaii Pacific Health and the Hawaii Nursing Association will resume talks this Tuesday on Kaua‘i in hopes of ending a Wilcox Hospital nurses’ strike that is now in its third month. The location of the 9 AM meeting was not revealed because of concerns demonstrations might hold up the resolution of the labor dispute, which started June 24 over demands by HNA to have more nurses on staff. ... Negotiators

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 30, 2006 For the first time in their two-month-long strike, officials with the striking Hawaii Nurses Association said they had a positive meeting with Wilcox Memorial Hospital officials yesterday. HNA Executive Director Aggie Pigao-Cadiz said "there was good movement" at the meeting between the 140-nurse bargaining unit, a federal mediator and officials with the hospital. The nurses have been on strike since June 24. ... Wilcox

Pacific Business News (Honolulu), August 22, 2006 A citizen group has formed on Kauai to push for settlement of the nursing strike at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. The Garden Island newspaper reports the group is called Concerned Citizens for Kauai's Healthcare Future and is led by Peter Kim, a retired Wilcox doctor, and Mary Thronas, a former Kauai councilwoman. The group sent a letter to the hospital board asking for more movement. The hospital responded that it was seeking a settlement by being open to new negotiations. ... Kauai

Charlotte Woolard, The Garden Island, August 16, 2006 The state teachers’ association voted yesterday to back Kaua‘i nurses on strike at Wilcox Memorial Hospital, officials said. “We’re all aware of what it’s like to work in a situation where you have many types of students,” said Tom Perry, director of the Hawai‘i State Teachers Association on Kaua‘i. “We equate that with the nurses.” Rural hospitals like Wilcox do not have the specialty units that are found in larger hospitals, meaning that Wilcox nurses handle a more diverse patient roster than their urban counterparts, officials say. ... Teachers

Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 12, 2006
Registered nurses at St. Francis Medical Center-West have ratified a new labor contract that provides for a 25 percent wage increase over three years. The ratification vote, held Thursday night, brings the nurses' contract in parity with other Honolulu hospitals represented by the Hawaii Nurses Association. "St. Francis West is an important medical center on this part of Oahu," said Jean Sugino, RN and nurse negotiator. "Our emergency room is constantly busy and full because we provide emergency and health-care services to the Leeward community. The nurses feel they are part of the community."

TheHawaiiChannel.com, August 11, 2006
Honolulu - Nurses at St. Francis West have overwhelmingly voted to ratify a three-year contract, according to union representatives. The new contract provides nurses with a 25 percent wage increase over three years, bringing them in parity with nurses at other Honolulu facilities, officials said. The Hawaii Nurses Association said that the contract ensures a strong nursing workforce for the hospital. St. Francis West provides health care services to the Leeward community, the fastest-growing area on the island.
Copyright 2006 by TheHawaiiChannel.com All rights reserved.

Jan TenBruggencate, Honolulu Advertiser, August 3, 2006

Lihu'e, Kaua'i - A nurses' strike at Wilcox Hospital is now in its sixth week, and the nurses and hospital owner Hawai'i Pacific Health appear farther apart than they were when the strike began.

The latest proposal from the nurses, made this week, was rejected by the hospital. It followed the hospital's proposal last week, which included a number of features that nurses described as "punitive."

Among them, the termination of longevity pay, the elimination of 12 licensed practical nurse positions ... Nurses

KGMB9, August 3, 2006

A meeting between striking Kauai nurses and Wilcox Hospital has produced no agreement and nurses say Wilcox may be trying to break the union.

The strike is now in its 41st day and the Hawaii Nurses Association says they have offered to bring in a third party consultant.

But their main sticking point is staffing acuity, which ensures a safe nurse to patient ratio. They say it is not negotiable. ... No

Charlotte Woolard, The Garden Island, August 1, 2006

Negotiators for the Hawai‘i Nurses Association and Wilcox Hospital said they met in Honolulu yesterday to try to hammer out an agreement to end the nurses’ strike that began June 24.

The meeting marked the first discussion of the latest offer, which union representatives gave Wilcox last Tuesday, said Aggie Pigao Cadiz, HNA executive director.

Representatives from both sides declined to comment on the ongoing negotiations, saying the federal mediator requested the Honolulu location. ... Contract

Associated Press, July 20, 2006

Lihue - Contract negotiations involving striking nurses at Wilcox Memorial Hospital are to resume next week after management's latest proposal was roundly rejected.

Nurse DQ Jackson is a spokesman for the Hawaii Nurses Association. He says not a single nurse voted to accept the offer from Kauai's only hospital.

About 140 Wilcox nurses went on strike June 24th after failing to win concessions from management to put more nurses on staff.

Jackson said the hospital's latest offer represented a step backward for the nurses, because it called for “the elimination of all nurse participation in patient care staffing.” ... Nurses

Jan TenBruggencate, Honolulu Advertiser, July 19, 2006

Lihu'e, Kaua'i - Wilcox Hospital nurses yesterday rejected a contract offer made by management Monday, saying it was worse from their perspective than the one the hospital made before the 25-day-old strike started.

"Not a single nurse voted to accept this offer," said nurse DQ Jackson, spokesman for the Hawai'i Nurses Association unit that has been picketing the hospital since June 24.

A key difference between the previous offer and Monday's proposal, Jackson said, was "the elimination of all nurse participation in patient care staffing." ... Nurses

The union calls the hospital's plans to cut 12 positions "highly punitive."
Tom Finnegan, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 19, 2006

Lihue - Striking Wilcox Hospital workers overwhelmingly rejected a new hospital proposal, officials with the nurses' union said yesterday.

The offer, made Monday by the hospital administration, "was put out there purely to scare the nurses into crossing the picket line," said Jon Carroll, chief legal counsel of the Hawaii Nurses' Association.

According to Carroll, the offer would include the termination of the positions of a dozen licensed practical nurses out on strike ... Wilcox

Charlotte Woolard, Garden Island, July 19, 2006

Kaua‘i nurses involved in a 25-day strike against Wilcox Memorial Hospital unanimously rejected the latest settlement offer yesterday, with union officials calling the proposed amendments to the contract punitive and unrealistic.

“This is a fear tactic,” DQ Jackson, an HNA negotiator, said. “We will present them in the coming week with a realistic proposal that could bring the strike to an end.”

The proposed settlement called for the elimination of 14 licensed practical nursing positions, as well as a reduction of working hours and a year-long delay to the already determined wage increase. ... Nurses

The staff-to-patient ratio remains a point of contention in the three-week walkout.
Tom Finnegan, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, July 18, 2006

Lihue - Wilcox Hospital administration officials said they are waiting for an answer from the striking nurses' union after they made an offer yesterday at the first negotiations in nearly a month.

Lani Yukimura, hospital spokeswoman, declined to give details of the proposal, only to say it involved new details.

"The union will make the next move, I guess," she said. ... Kauai

KGMB9, July 17, 2006
After more than three weeks on the picket line, nurses on Kauai are finally meeting again with negotiators. For the first time since the strike began, both sides were back at the bargaining table this afternoon trying to resolve the work dispute. The nurses union and representatives from Wilcox Memorial Hospital wrapped up a session with a federal mediator. In the meeting, the hospital presented a new proposal to the nurses. No word yet on the details of the proposal. The union is now reviewing the offer. More than 100 nurses from Kauai's only full-service hospital have been striking, mainly over the nurse-to-patient ratio.
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