There’s a stench emanating from a place many of us are familiar with, and wouldn’t expect, Kapiʻolani Medical Center, the hospital where the 44th President of the United States was born, and was named after Queen Kapiʻolani, who founded Kapiʻolani Maternity Home in 1890 as a means of caring for the health and welfare of Hawai‘i’s women and keiki.
Pilau is the only way to properly describe the actions taken by the Kapi‘olani Medical Center’s administration with the lockout of their dedicated and hard working nurses over a labor dispute and their inability to get to “yes” at the bargaining table.
In seeking feedback from some long-time labor leaders in this State about the approach being taken by Kapi‘olaniʻs administration, I confirmed that this type of action, lockouts, are a very hardball, mainland style of bargaining. It is the administration’s “my way or the highway” approach to test the union and its ability to stay unified during a very trying period.
Unions, collective bargaining and labor are woven into the fabric of our history here in Hawai‘i. We are able to collectively bargain today because of the many thousands of workers before us who fought for that right. It is because of that history that, despite any disagreements we may have with one another, we remain cordial and professional, and we treat one another with respect because at the end of the day, we need to live and work together in a State made up of a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Kapiʻolani Medical Center conveniently points out in their website, lockouts are “legal.” While lockouts may be legal, they certainly aren’t the right way to deal with things, especially in the State of Hawaiʻi where we promote “Live with Aloha” and “Pono”. The leadership of Kapiʻolani Medical Center should be ashamed of themselves for taking these actions. Where’s the Aloha? Is this Pono? Perhaps it makes sense since the majority of the leadership team at Kapiʻolani Medical Center are malihini. They donʻt understand what it means to “Live Aloha” like those of us born and raised in the islands who were taught the concept of Pono in our youth. For sure they do not emulate those who have adapted to the culture like the many generations of kama‘aina and immigrants who have come to understand and accept to live in harmony with each other here in Hawai‘i.
It is also disingenuous how Kapiʻolani’s administration has spun the narrative in the media surrounding the real issues that are in dispute between the parties. At the heart of this dispute is patient safety and adequate and safe staffing ratios in order to deliver standards of care. Choosing to frame the issue solely on compensation and conveniently not mentioning the main reason why the parties are at an impasse is not Pono.
In the FAQ section on the Kapiʻolani Medical Center website, the administration attempts to satisfy any concerns the community may have about access to services by stating that they have secured a “temporary workforce of experienced nurses who specialize in the care of women and children and have worked at some of the top children’s hospitals in the nation.”
This is a real slap in the face towards their own employees – the hard working nurses at Kapi‘olani who are not only specialists in their respective fields, but are a part of our community and can best relate to the local community in which they serve. One has to question how comfortable or rather uncomfortable the impacted physicians and remaining staff are with the temporary workforce and their limited understanding and familiarity with the hospital protocols and our culture. The administration may have secured bodies for coverage, but the care, connection, and appreciation to our community will not be there.
In fact, a newly hired RN typically spends up to a month or longer going through orientation and precepting. They work with experienced nurses to learn about hospital policy, procedures and protocols, and how to use electronic medical records, to be able to give care independently. How does that happen when the experienced nurses are locked out of the hospital? What does that mean for the care of our community? What does that mean for a patient?
Donʻt be surprised as you’re driving up or down Punahou Street, on the makai side of the freeway, if you smell the stench emanating. This is a make-or-break moment in our State’s long standing history with labor and we must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association. As union members, if we accept this lockout, what stops any other private or public sector employers from taking the same position? Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes Chapter 89, the collective bargaining law for public employees, gives UHPA the right to strike. If we don’t stop this lockout from occurring, don’t be surprised if the same thing happens to us if we are ever forced to take that action.
We are in the final year of our current four-year agreement, with our contract expiring on June 30, 2025, and are currently getting ready for successor bargaining. We have strength in numbers and must stand up and ensure that this type of non-local style behavior stops now, and never happens again!
Pilau
There’s a stench emanating from a place many of us are familiar with, and wouldn’t expect, Kapiʻolani Medical Center, the hospital where the 44th President of the United States was born, and was named after Queen Kapiʻolani, who founded Kapiʻolani Maternity Home in 1890 as a means of caring for the health and welfare of Hawai‘i’s women and keiki.
Pilau is the only way to properly describe the actions taken by the Kapi‘olani Medical Center’s administration with the lockout of their dedicated and hard working nurses over a labor dispute and their inability to get to “yes” at the bargaining table.
In seeking feedback from some long-time labor leaders in this State about the approach being taken by Kapi‘olaniʻs administration, I confirmed that this type of action, lockouts, are a very hardball, mainland style of bargaining. It is the administration’s “my way or the highway” approach to test the union and its ability to stay unified during a very trying period.
Unions, collective bargaining and labor are woven into the fabric of our history here in Hawai‘i. We are able to collectively bargain today because of the many thousands of workers before us who fought for that right. It is because of that history that, despite any disagreements we may have with one another, we remain cordial and professional, and we treat one another with respect because at the end of the day, we need to live and work together in a State made up of a group of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
Kapiʻolani Medical Center conveniently points out in their website, lockouts are “legal.” While lockouts may be legal, they certainly aren’t the right way to deal with things, especially in the State of Hawaiʻi where we promote “Live with Aloha” and “Pono”. The leadership of Kapiʻolani Medical Center should be ashamed of themselves for taking these actions. Where’s the Aloha? Is this Pono? Perhaps it makes sense since the majority of the leadership team at Kapiʻolani Medical Center are malihini. They donʻt understand what it means to “Live Aloha” like those of us born and raised in the islands who were taught the concept of Pono in our youth. For sure they do not emulate those who have adapted to the culture like the many generations of kama‘aina and immigrants who have come to understand and accept to live in harmony with each other here in Hawai‘i.
It is also disingenuous how Kapiʻolani’s administration has spun the narrative in the media surrounding the real issues that are in dispute between the parties. At the heart of this dispute is patient safety and adequate and safe staffing ratios in order to deliver standards of care. Choosing to frame the issue solely on compensation and conveniently not mentioning the main reason why the parties are at an impasse is not Pono.
In the FAQ section on the Kapiʻolani Medical Center website, the administration attempts to satisfy any concerns the community may have about access to services by stating that they have secured a “temporary workforce of experienced nurses who specialize in the care of women and children and have worked at some of the top children’s hospitals in the nation.”
This is a real slap in the face towards their own employees – the hard working nurses at Kapi‘olani who are not only specialists in their respective fields, but are a part of our community and can best relate to the local community in which they serve. One has to question how comfortable or rather uncomfortable the impacted physicians and remaining staff are with the temporary workforce and their limited understanding and familiarity with the hospital protocols and our culture. The administration may have secured bodies for coverage, but the care, connection, and appreciation to our community will not be there.
In fact, a newly hired RN typically spends up to a month or longer going through orientation and precepting. They work with experienced nurses to learn about hospital policy, procedures and protocols, and how to use electronic medical records, to be able to give care independently. How does that happen when the experienced nurses are locked out of the hospital? What does that mean for the care of our community? What does that mean for a patient?
Donʻt be surprised as you’re driving up or down Punahou Street, on the makai side of the freeway, if you smell the stench emanating. This is a make-or-break moment in our State’s long standing history with labor and we must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association. As union members, if we accept this lockout, what stops any other private or public sector employers from taking the same position? Hawaiʻi Revised Statutes Chapter 89, the collective bargaining law for public employees, gives UHPA the right to strike. If we don’t stop this lockout from occurring, don’t be surprised if the same thing happens to us if we are ever forced to take that action.
We are in the final year of our current four-year agreement, with our contract expiring on June 30, 2025, and are currently getting ready for successor bargaining. We have strength in numbers and must stand up and ensure that this type of non-local style behavior stops now, and never happens again!