The Hawaiʻi Nurses' Association still has plans to walk off the job at Kapi’olani Medical Center for Women and Children on Sept. 13, even though Hawaiʻi Pacific Health management threatened to lock out members if they go through with the one-day strike — a rare move in health care.
Both sides met virtually on Thursday, but no deal has been struck. The issue is not so much wages — management said it's offering base salaries of more than $100,000 on up. The union said the sticking point is the patient workload.
Fifty years ago in 1974, Hawaiʻi saw its first nurses strike. The Conversation talked with former labor leader J.N. Musto about the changing labor landscape. He was with the University of Hawaiʻi Professional Assembly, the faculty union, for more than three-and-a-half decades, and just last year rolled off the Hawaiʻi Labor Relations Board after several terms.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 6, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
