Nurses and Healthcare Workers on Maui and Lanai Ratify New Contract with Historic Gains—Averting a Second Strike
The agreement includes significant wage increases for lowest-paid workers and enforceable staffing language to protect patient care
(EDITOR's NOTE: Maui Hospital nurses dump HGEA to join Nurses Union and suddenly they start getting big pay hikes and better working conditions. Other professionals need to learn from this. Dump HGEA's sorry representation.)
News Release from United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii, Jan 6, 2025
MAUI – Members of the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii have voted overwhelmingly to ratify a new four-year contract with Maui Health/Kaiser Permanente. The agreement makes historic gains toward the goals set out by the nurses and healthcare workers from the beginning of negotiations, with raises totaling between 27% and 49.86% over four years for the lowest paid workers (such as clerical staff and receptionists). All union members’ wages will increase at a minimum of 21% up to 97.52% over the life of the agreement. The contract, which covers Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital, and Lanai Community Hospital, also achieved enforceable staffing levels and standards, with substantial new collaboration between RNs and nurse management to safeguard patient care.
RNs and bargaining team members are available for interviews about this historic agreement and what it took to get here.
“Our members fought hard, with a lot of public support, and we won a historic contract,” said Matt Pelc, CT Tech and Chair of the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii (UNHCEH). “We won a comprehensive plan to develop staffing ratios and have them enforceable through our contract, a system specific to our hospital that will make Maui Health a safe place to be a patient.
“We also won lifechanging money for our lowest paid members, so they’ll no longer have to work a second job, will have more time with their families, and we can keep families together here on Maui.”
“This was a huge victory,” said China Kapuras, Case Manager, and a member of the lowest-paid A4 classification, which won the highest raises in the new contract. “This is history—nothing like this has ever happened in all the years I’ve worked at this hospital. It makes me feel worthwhile. All of us won this together, out on that three-day strike. It shows what a great strong family we have, fighting for what we believe so we can take care of our patients. Our patients come first, and we want to do the best job we can for them.”
The parties reached a tentative agreement late on Friday, December 20, right before the holidays. The UNHCEH bargaining team had been prepared to call for a second strike had they not reached the tentative agreement. UNHCEH members had a chance to review the full details of the agreement and discuss it with the bargaining team and chief negotiator during a series of meetings held between January 2 and January 6, then cast anonymous votes electronically. The votes were tabulated today.
The agreement comes after a first-ever strike by this group of workers less than two months ago, from November 4 to November 7, that enjoyed massive turnout and tremendous community support. On November 26, the Maui County Council passed a resolution urging Maui Health and Kaiser to settle the negotiations in the best interests of all residents of the County of Maui.
The contract runs retroactively from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2028. Negotiations began on July 22 and ran for 26 bargaining sessions.
Background: Get background on contract negotiations, patient care standards, turnover rates and wage comparisons, and studies cited.
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United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii (UNCHEH) represents 900 employees of Maui Health System on Maui and Lanai, including registered nurses, social workers, physical and occupational therapists, speech/language pathologists, MRI, imaging, and mammography technicians, financial counselors, admitting clerks, receptionists, and many more. UNHCEH is a chapter of UNAC/UHCP.
United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals (UNAC/UHCP) represents more than 40,000 registered nurses and health care professionals in California and Hawaii, including optometrists; pharmacists; physical, occupational and speech therapists; case managers; nurse midwives; social workers; clinical lab scientists; physician assistants and nurse practitioners; hospital support and technical staff. UNAC/UHCP is affiliated with the National Union of Hospital and Health Care Employees and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO.
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