Hundreds of Maui Health System Employees Return to Work as Negotiations Continue

About 900 employees at Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital and Lanai Community Hospital returned to their jobs Thursday morning after a three-day strike.

“We really clogged the sidewalks yesterday,” Matt Pelc, a CT scan technician at Maui Memorial and president of the United Nurses and Healthcare Workers Union of Hawaii, said Wednesday. “That was great. Everyone passing by honks in support.”

The employees at the three facilities work for the Maui Health System and its affiliate Kaiser Permanente. They are negotiating safer staffing ratios and higher wages to keep up with Maui’s high cost of living.

Although employees have returned to work, an agreement has not yet been reached and negotiations have not been completed. More meetings are planned in the next two months.

“We have our next negotiation date set for November 14th,” Peltz said. “So when we come back to the negotiating table, we’ll look at where they are and see if they value us enough to give us the personnel we need to govern.” this hospital.”

While employees were on the picket line, Maui Health organized a strike to keep hospitals open.

“They increased staffing for those three days beyond what we normally have for staffing throughout the hospital,” he said. “So it’s a little surprising that they are willing to properly staff the strikers, but not the workers who work here every day.”

Research shows that as each patient is added to a nurse’s workload, the patient mortality rate increases.

Pelc said union members hope new strikes won’t be necessary, but haven’t ruled it out.

“The members here are united and they are willing to do whatever it takes to get a contract that will keep the staff here, keep people here who have families, rather than having to leave the island for better paying, better quality jobs. »