Nurse labor dispute at Hawaii hospital escalates with 10 arrests

HONOLULU (AP) — Ten people, including a recently elected state lawmaker, were arrested Monday outside Hawaii’s only women’s and children’s hospital, where unionized nurses have been locked out since going on a one-day strike during contract negotiations.

Those arrested sat and blocked the driveway of Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children Monday morning and refused to leave after officers issued warnings, Honolulu police spokesperson Sarah Yoro said in an email.

More than 600 nurses have been locked out since they went on a one-day strike earlier this month. Since then, nurses and supporters have been demonstrating and holding signs outside the hospital, which said it would continue to provide care with a temporary workforce.

The nurses want to see safer nurse-patient ratios, said Rosalee Agas-Yuu, president of the Hawaii Nurses Association. The contract expired last year.

Both sides met through the weekend and contract negotiations were set to continue Monday, Agas-Yuu said.

“All they want to do is just go back to the bedside and take care of the patients,” she said of the nurses.

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On Monday, demonstrators calling attention to the lockout sat at the hospital’s entrance as buses with the temporary out-of-state nurses arrived, Agas-Yuu said. None of the people arrested are active nurses, she said.

“We respect the right for peaceful protesting, but any demonstration cannot negatively impact patient care,” hospital CEO Gidget Ruscetta said in a statement. “Access to our medical center must remain open for our community. We will rely on the Honolulu Police Department to take appropriate action.”

According to a police arrest log, Democratic state Rep. Kim Coco Iwamoto, 56, was among those arrested and cited for obstructing. She was recently elected to represent part of Honolulu in the state House of Representatives.

Ikaika Hussey, who recently won the Democratic primary for a state House seat, was also arrested. He and others were engaging in “classic civil disobedience,” he said after being released from a cellblock.

He said his decision to participate came from thinking about the hospital’s founder, Queen Kapi‘olani.

“She would be disappointed in how her namesake has become, you know, sort of anti-worker,” he said.

This wasn’t the first arrest for Lori Treschuk, who said she’s been arrested at other protests for other causes. But this was extra personal for the 77-year-old retired nurse.

“I just feel so much for the nursing staff,” she said. “I know how stressful it is even on a quote-unquote good day.”