600 Nurses Strike at Kapiolani Medical Center - Sign The Petition
A group of about 600 nurses at Kapiolani Medical Center in Honolulu have entered the third day of a weeklong strike to demand higher wages, an end to mandatory overtime and improved staffing ratios. The nurses began picketing outside the hospital on Sunday, January 21st, calling for administrators to address issues that have been ongoing for years.
Pay Disparity and Mandatory Overtime Take Toll
The nurses argue that they receive lower pay than nurses at other major Honolulu hospitals, despite having similar levels of experience and responsibility. Nurses also report that they are frequently required to work overtime, often with little advance notice, leading to burnout and high turnover.
Sign The Petition!
Nurses of Kapiolani Medical Center asked Nurse.org to share their petition with our massive audience. If you have time today, please sign it to help other nurses. Click here to sign the petition.
The petition reads, "Kapiolani nurses have been in contract negotiations since September of 2023. Nurses have been attempting to address unsafe patient safety concerns with safe nurse to patient ratios and strong staffing language. Nurses have advocated for the filling of the roughly 100 vacant RN positions with competent, experienced nurses. Instead, Kapiolani management pays out of state, traveling nurses, rather than attracting permanent nurses that live and work in Hawaii. HPH has refused to accept our common sense solutions, instead choosing profit over patient safety by purposely understaffing the hospital to save money, which puts the patients at risk."
Staffing Levels Impact Patient Safety, Say Nurses
In addition to concerns over pay and overtime, nurses report that staffing levels are often inadequate to provide optimal care, especially for high-risk patients. “There are shifts where we have one nurse for every five or six babies in the neonatal intensive care unit,” said Kimo Keliipuleole, a nurse specializing in neonatal care. “That makes it very difficult to give these vulnerable babies the attention they need.” Hospital administrators counter that staffing levels meet or exceed national standards. However, nurses argue that these standards do not always account for factors like patient acuity that can impact the level of care required.
Nurses React on Social Media
In response to the strike, Kapiolani Medical Center has brought in temporary nurses to maintain normal hospital operations. However, local news reports that some patients and visitors have complained about the increased noise from the picketing nurses outside the hospital. Nurses, nationwide, have a lot to say about that.
@the.nurse.erica Tell the real story! #supportnurses #nursestrike #hawaii #solidarity #newsfornurses #greenscreenvideo ♬ original sound - TheNurseErica
As the strike continues into its third day, negotiations remain stalled but hospital administrators say they hope to reach an agreement soon.
