Hundreds of workers at Kaiser Permanente Hawaii started a six-day strike Monday but made sure patients knew it was OK to keep their appointments with the state’s largest health maintenance organization.
Holding up a sign that read, "Clinic open. Keep your appointments," picketers at the Honolulu Clinic welcomed patients with yellow fliers that read in part, "We welcome you to Kaiser! We are your hospital aides. We are your transporters. We are your lab and pharmacy technicians. We assist you at the front desk. We keep the facility clean for you. But Kaiser is keeping us from providing you the best quality care that you expect and deserve."
Unite Here Local 5, representing 1,900 Kaiser workers, organized a statewide strike following objections to what it calls low proposed wage increases and a proposal to eliminate guaranteed pensions for new employees.
Local 5’s talking points include understaffing after Kaiser shut down its urgent care department at the Honolulu Clinic in March 2013. The union said it has lost 121 Kaiser workers since 2012 due to staffing cuts.
Ann Tingkang, a senior citizen who declined to give her age, raved about the HMO saving her elderly husband’s life many times but said she understood why workers were striking.
"They want the urgent care back. Urgent care is critical at this location here. People are very upset," Tingkang said while waiting for TheHandi-Van after an appointment at the Honolulu Clinic. "From what I understand, a lot of senior citizens are suffering without it. We live around here and we have to go to Moanalua. (The strike is) justified."
Tingkang said it took 28 phone calls to get a foot care appointment Monday for her husband, but one opened up when another patient who didn’t want to cross the picket line canceled.
"I came at 8:15, went to my appointment, everything was fine," she said. "Everything went smoothly. No complaints."
Members of Local 5 started picketing at midnight at the Moanalua Medical Center, union spokeswoman Paola Rodelas said.
The workers, picketing in four-hour shifts, include licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and housekeepers. The strike will continue through Saturday. The union is giving $300 per person from its strike fund to workers who walk the picket lines for at least five four-hour shifts, Rodelas said.
"It’s more than just getting a good contract. We want to see improvements to the patient care," Rodelas said while standing across the street from Kaiser’s Honolulu Clinic, where dozens of workers were picketing. "We apologize to the patients if there is any inconvenience to them. But this understaffing is a reality that our workers face every day."
The union also is planning a Waikiki rally with Kaiser and hotel workers at 4 p.m. Thursday starting at the Modern Honolulu hotel and ending at the Duke Kahanamoku statue.
This is the first statewide strike for Local 5 Kaiser members since 1986. The union represents 1,900 Kaiser workers who have been working without a contract for more than two years.
Kaiser announced last week that it would close 10 of its smaller clinics on Oahu and the neighbor islands during the strike and would reschedule elective procedures and nonurgent appointments while consolidating resources to its larger medical facilities.
The temporary closures on Oahu include the following clinics: Hawaii Kai, Kahuku, Kailua, Kapolei, Mapunapuna (except gastroenterology and surgery), Nanaikeola and Pearlridge. The Kihei Clinic on Maui is closed this week, as are the South Kona and Waimea clinics on Hawaii Island.
Despite notices to patients, Kaiser said more than 100 patients showed up at its closed locations Monday.
"We deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused by Local 5’s actions and we greatly appreciate our members’ patience and understanding," said Kaiser spokeswoman Laura Lott.
Unrelated to the strike, Lott said there was a hardware problem with the phone system at the Waipio medical office that resulted in longer-than-expected wait times. However, the problem has been fixed and call volumes returned to normal, she said.
"We are continually monitoring workloads and patient flow and will make changes as needed to ensure continued smooth operations," Lott added.
Kaiser said it has "time on hold" to return to the bargaining table the week of Feb. 16 but has not set any dates or times.
The health care provider wouldn’t say how many traveling workers it has hired to fill in during the strike or how many union members have crossed the picket lines to work.
"We would like to thank all our employees who came to work today to deliver the high-quality care our members expect and deserve," Lott said. "While we recognize and respect their right to strike, we are disappointed that many of them chose to strike, especially during such a busy flu season."
Lott said she was unable to put a price on the financial impact of the weeklong strike.
Local 5 said Kaiser’s last offer included proposed wage increases of a total 4 percent over three years. That compares with a 14 percent pay raise for about 18,000 Kaiser nurses in California who went on a two-day strike in November.
Jonah Pascual, a 36-year-old medical assistant at the Honolulu Clinic who earns about $22 an hour, said his mainland counterparts get as much as $10 more for doing the same job.
"It is unfair. We didn’t want to affect patient care, but this is a fight I know a lot of patients will support us in," he said. "This is for the well-being of us local people. It’s hard living in Hawaii. It’s expensive. This will not only help us, but the people who are going to come on (in the future). What legacy do we have to leave them but this?"
