Media Advisory: Kaiser Permanente Workers Day of Action on Oahu and Maui
UNITEHERE! Local 5
Media Advisory for September 24, 2021
Media Contact:
Bryant de Venecia
Cell Phone: (808) 546-0024
Kaiser Permanente Workers Day of Action on Oahu and Maui
Collective Bargaining Agreement between UNITE HERE Local 5 and Kaiser Permanente is set to expire September 30th
WHAT: Healthcare workers sign waving actions in front of Kaiser Permanente hospitals
WHERE: Oahu – Waipio Clinic (94-1480 Moaniani St, Waipahu)
Moanalua Hospital (3288 Moanalua Rd, Honolulu)
Maui – Wailuku Clinic (80 Mahalani St, Wailuku, HI 96793)
Maui Lani Clinic (55 Maui Lani Pkwy, Wailuku, HI 96793)
WHEN: TODAY, September 24, 2021
Oahu – Waipio Clinic 11:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Moanalua Hospital 3:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Maui – Wailuku & Maui Lani Clinics 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
WHO: UNITE HERE Local 5 members at Kaiser Permanente. We will follow current COVID-19 protocols by social-distancing and limiting participants
WHY: The union contract for nearly 2,000 Kaiser Permanente workers represented by UNITE HERE Local 5 is set to expire September 30th. After months of negotiations, Kaiser Permanente has not addressed wage and staffing issues that hurt health care workers. Instead, the company is proposing a destructive wage system and ignoring short staffing issues.
Alexsis Crowell, an MA at the Honolulu Clinic Primary Care department shares, “Kaiser Permanente needs to provide fair wages and to address the staff problems. We’re constantly exhausted from our job; we feel like there’s not enough help. Kaiser needs to have our back because they always say we’re ʻohana, but I don’t feel like they’re treating us like family.”
Earlier this year, Kaiser Permanente announced that they are outsourcing dozens of local jobs to the California. In 2020, the company attempted to shut down departments in Wailuku clinic, which threatened the jobs of dozens of workers and health care access to the community.
The workers will sign wave with messages: “Defend Healthcare Workers” and “Safe Staffing Now”
Local 5 represents approximately 12,000 workers throughout Hawaii who work in the hospitality, health care and food service industries and is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 250,000 workers throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information, visit www.unitehere5.org.
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