About 950 unionized employees of Maui Health under Kaiser Permanente on the islands of Maui and Lānaʻi are starting the new year with a new contract. This comes after negotiations had been ongoing since July, and the first-ever strike by the employee group in November.
The contract voted on this week provides pay increases of at least 21% over the next four years. This covers employees including nurses, technicians, and administrative and support staff at Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital, and Lānaʻi Community Hospital.
“I'm personally ecstatic to have the deal done,” said Matt Pelc, a CT tech at Maui Memorial and chair of the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii union.
“In terms of the contract, this is, we think, a historic deal. We have some things that are first for the state of Hawaiʻi. We have nice increases on the financials. Even our lowest paid workers — one of our goals we set out for was for them to get substantial increases. So the real big goals to try to make living on Maui affordable through work here, and not have to break families apart so much, and people leave island for better opportunities.”
“We're the first contract in the state of Hawaiʻi to have our per diems get a differential in the contract,” Pelc added.
Case manager China Kapuras called it a "huge victory." Kapuras is a member of the lowest-paid A4 classification, which won the highest raises in the new contract.
“This is history — nothing like this has ever happened in all the years I’ve worked at this hospital. It makes me feel worthwhile. All of us won this together, out on that three-day strike. It shows what a great strong family we have, fighting for what we believe so we can take care of our patients. Our patients come first, and we want to do the best job we can for them.”
The contract also includes a comprehensive plan to develop enforceable staffing levels and standards – one of the sticking points in negotiations that health care workers say will increase patient safety.
The union had been preparing to call for a second strike had an agreement not been reached.
“I want to recognize the tremendous work of both bargaining teams to bring this to fruition and reach an agreement that affords competitive compensation to all job classifications represented across the bargaining unit,” said Maui Health CEO Lynn Fulton in a written statement sent to HPR. “Our nurses and nurse leaders will continue to collaborate on staffing plans that are dynamic and flexible, ensuring that we can continue to provide exceptional health care to our community.”
The new contract will run until September 2028.
