HONOLULU — Nearly 2,000 Kaiser Permanente health care workers in Hawaiʻi plan to strike later this month over wages and staffing concerns.
UNITE HERE Local 5 said the strike due to begin Nov. 22 would affect 20 facilities across Hawaiʻi. Thousands of Kaiser health care workers in California have already said they will strike starting Monday.
The employees have been without a contract since Sept. 30.
Local 5 spokesperson Bryant de Venecia said Wednesday that negotiations were continuing. Kaiser and the Alliance of Health Care Unions began national bargaining in April. Local 5 has been negotiating some Hawaiʻi-specific issues with Kaiser as well.
Local 5 said in a news release that Kaiser's latest proposal was for an “insulting” 2% wage increase contingent on the union's agreement to a two-tier wage system under which new hires would receive lower pay.
The union said Kaiser also failed to address concerns about short staffing, while workers report being stressed and overworked during the coronavirus pandemic.
Arlene Peasnall, Kaiser’s senior vice president of human resources, said in a statement that Hawaiʻi union-represented employees earn about 26% above the average market wage. She said Kaiser offered up to 4% yearly pay raises — 2% pay increases plus a 2% cash payout each year of a four-year contract, Hawaii News Now reported.
