Nurses at Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital in Waimea held an informational picket Wednesday morning in a stand for equal pay.
According to the Hawaii Nurses Association, the move follows two months of “exasperating negotiations” about equal pay for nurses on the Big Island, who make less than nurses on Oahu. The union, which represents about 80 nurses at the North Hawaii hospital, has been negotiating since March 4. The nurses’ contract, ratified in 2019, ended on April 1.
“Our biggest issue is the lack of fairness and equality,” said Dan Ross, the nurses’ union president. “Queen’s is refusing to compensate the North Hawaii Community Hospital nurses the same as the Queen’s nurses on Oahu, unlike other healthcare providers such as Hawaii Pacific Health and Kaiser Permanente.”
Currently, the base wage for nurses at The Queen’s Medical Center (QMC) in Honolulu is $62.64. which will increase to $63.89 in July. Base pay for the nurses at Queen’s North Hawaii Community Hospital (QNHCH) is $52.70. More, the charge nurse at QMC receives an additional $3 per hour where as at QNHCH, it’s $1 per hour. The night differential pay at QMC is $5.50 per hour and at QNHCH, it is $3 per hour.
Nurses took to Mamalahoa Highway in Waimea to picket Wednesday morning to show their frustration.
“The hospital here has been understaffed for years due to our RNs being some of the lowest paid acute care nurses on the island,” said Libby Joyce, a nurse and demonstrator at QNHCH. “We have a difficult time attracting and painting staff due to this and the COVID-19 crisis has only emphasized this.”
Joyce also added that community members came to support the nurses.
“We had many community members picketing alongside our nurses and it was wonderful having their support,” she said.
At QNHCH, there are more than 300 employees, including dozens of physicians and nurses.
The hospital responded to the protests by saying they would remain “committed to working with the nurses for positive outcomes for all parties.” More, the hospital has pledged to bring a mediator in to the next meeting with the nurses association to avoid “further delays” and put “improvements in place.”
“At Queen’s, we respect our nurses and are grateful they care for patients, families and communities,” a press release read.
However, Nathan K. Hokama, a spokesman for the Hawaii Nurses Association, said that nurses feel different.
“The nurses say they are frustrated and feel abused because they care about the patients and the hospital takes advantage of them,” he said. “They feel like they are being treated like second-rate nurses. All they are asking for is to be treated with respect and to receive a compensation package equitable with the Queen’s nurses in Honolulu.”
For nurses on the Big Island, their hope is that the two days of picketing will get things moving at the hospital. A second informational picketing is slated Saturday in Waimea.
“My hope is that this will open the eyes of our administration to the duty we all have to the health and safety of our community, and we constantly find ourselves playing catch up, scrambling for staff endlessly,” said Joyce. “They need to take steps to bring fair pay to our nurses.”