Hundreds of union nurses at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children hit the picket lines this morning for a planned one-day strike as hospital management vows to lock them out unless they agree to the company’s last contract offer.

They lined up along Punahou Street in front of the hospital and around the corner, holding signs that said “Zero Tolerance for Retaliation” and “ULP Strike,” standing for unfair labor practice. They chanted, “When we fight, we win!” while clanging bells and eliciting honks of support from passing drivers.

It is the second strike this year by the nurses, who have been working without a contract since December.

The Hawaii Nurses’ Association, which represents about 600 Kapi‘olani nurses, notified Kapi‘olani on Sept. 3 that it intended to hold a one-day strike, and hospital executives responded the next day by threatening to impose a lockout if the nurses walked off the job again.

Management said all HNA-represented registered nurses with contracts that expired Nov. 30, 2023, would not be allowed to return to work until their offer was unconditionally accepted.

Last-ditch negotiations on Thursday failed to yield an agreement, prompting HNA to proceed with the strike at 7 a.m. today. The two parties continue to disagree primarily over nurse-to-patient ratios and work conditions.

“Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children know they are the only specialty hospital for women and children and play a crucial role in our state and the Pacific,” HNA President Rosalee Agas-Yuu said in a news release. “They know children and families count on their services, yet the hospital’s leaders have chosen to lock out the nurses for advocating for safe staffing standards to improve patient care.”

Kapi‘olani Chief Operating Officer Gidget Ruscetta said the union ended talks early, at 3 p.m. Thursday, even though its negotiation team was prepared to stay as long as possible to reach a deal to benefit the nurses.

From her office on the first floor, Ruscetta said the strike was disappointing.

“It’s very emotional as you can see,” she said. “There’s noise up and down the sidewalk and we didn’t want it to come to this. We have been negotiating with the nurses’ union for a year. We have met over 30 times and we had the federal mediator involved.”

She said a lot of progress was made at the bargaining session Monday, but that Thursday’s meeting was cut short by the union. Kapi‘olani’s negotiating team was prepared to negotiate all night, she said, to avoid the strike and subsequent lockout.

“We were disappointed because our focus our goal was to reach an agreement for our nurses,” she said. “We have generous package that is on the table for our nurses. We want them to benefit from it and it’s disappointing because they’re on the sidewalk and not inside the hospital taking care of our patients.”

A temporary workforce of nurses was brought in this morning to fill in, she said, and were working the units. Most of the nurses brought in have had prior experience working at Kapi‘olani.

“They are here and our patients are taken care of,” she said.

Last week HNA filed an injunction with the National Labor Relations Board to stop the lockout, calling it an act of retaliation for the strike, but a decision by NLRB is still pending.

The lockout officially begins at 7 a.m. Saturday.