On September 14th, 2024, Hawai'i Pacific Health / Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children locked-out the 600 highly skilled local nurses who care for the babies, sons, daughters, and mothers of Hawai'i, until they unconditionally accept the hospital's contract demands.

Instead of investing in our community, HPH is using its money to bring in replacement workers from the mainland and voluntarily reduce the operational capacity of the hospital. Why would the hospital take steps that they know would make quality care harder to deliver?

Nurses have been negotiating a contract for over a year with the goal of creating enforceable nurse to patient staffing ratios. This would make sure that no patient would get a nurse who was over worked to the point where it creates a safety concern. This is known as safe staffing.

Studies have shown that staffing ratios directly impact patient safety and mortality. Kapi'olani cares for the sickest babies and children in the state and we need to do everything to protect them.  Instead Kapi'olani has locked-out the nurses until they give up on establishing enforceable safe staffing in the union contract.  

The fact that HPH has never even said they can't afford our staffing proposal, or any of our proposals during bargaining is even more proof that they are putting greed over the needs of our community.

This lockout is about retaliating and breaking the nurses resolve to advocate for their patients and HPH is willing to compromise patient care to do it.  

Send a letter and HPH Board of Directors and CEO Ray Vara. Tell them to end the Kapi'olani lockout because his greed hurts Hawaii.