The Maui County Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting Maui Health Systems health care workers under Kaiser Permanente.
The resolution comes after a recent three-day strike of more than 900 employees on Maui and Lānaʻi last month. Health care workers at Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital, and Lānaʻi Community Hospital have been negotiating a new contract.
They are asking for safe staffing ratios and wages to retain staff with Maui’s high cost of living. West Maui Councilmember Tamara Paltin introduced the resolution to support their efforts.
“They worked through COVID, they've worked through the fire," Paltin said. "They see horrific things, and they just are trying to help us. So they need our help to help them, to help us. Their next dates for negotiating is Dec. 11 and 12 at least, and I'd love to send them back to the bargaining table with this support from their Maui County Council for doing the work they do to take care of us.”
Health care workers say the current ratio of healthcare workers to patients is unsafe.
"We used to have three nurses to care for a team of nine to 10 patients and now we have only two," said Jennifer Rosenblad, Maui Memorial Emergency Room nurse of nearly 30 years, in her testimony to the council. "This is a very stressful situation for our nurses and obviously for our patients when we are unable to provide the quality care they not only deserve but require. We are just stretched too thin, care becomes unsafe and its simply dangerous."
Copies of the resolution will be sent to state and health care officials.
