Media Contacts
Local 5: Angelina Spence, Communications Organizer, UNITE HERE Local 5, (808) 391-6988, [email protected]
HNHP: Terilyn Carvalho Luke, RN | (808) 256-1502 | [email protected]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OCTOBER 3, 2025
Hawai‘i unions deliver 10-Day strike notice to Kaiser Permanente, thousands of Hawai‘i healthcare workers set to strike
HONOLULU,HI–At 8 a.m. this morning, UNITE HERE Local 5 (Local 5) and Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals (HNHP) delivered a 10-day strike notice to Kaiser Permanente announcing a 5-day strike to begin on Tuesday, October 14 at 6:30 a.m. and end on Sunday, October 19 at 7 a.m. The strike will impact over 2,000 Kaiser workers at facilities on O‘ahu, Maui, Hawai‘i Island, and Kaua‘i in positions such as hospital aides, medical assistants, lab assistants, pharmacy techs, dietary specialists, housekeeping. Unions representing tens of thousands of Kaiser workers in California, Hawai‘i, Oregon, Washington state also delivered similar strike notices this morning.
Local unions have been in contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente since April. Key bargaining priorities for Hawai‘i Kaiser workers are wage increases that keep up with Hawai‘i’s high cost of living and safe staffing that protects the physical and mental health of workers, while ensuring quality patient care.
“I am ready to strike because even after months of bargaining, Kaiser has not fully addressed our top concerns: safe staffing and fair wage increases,” said Lisa Pang, LPN at Kaiser Kona Medical Offices, 16 years of service. “I take pride in doing everything I can to make sure our patients are taken care of at Kaiser, but it is insulting that Kaiser values us less than workers on the continent and frustrating when they do not provide the proper staffing needed to deliver quality patient care.”
In Hawai‘i, Kaiser workers are paid up to 30% less than their counterparts on the continent performing the same work. In a 2024 survey of nearly 800 Kaiser workers represented by Local 5, 84% reported that they have thought about leaving Hawai‘i because of the high cost of living. Turnover rates for Hawai‘i Kaiser workers represented by Local 5 are more than 11%, while Kaiser’s overall employee turnover rate is 8%,.
“Our members are ready to take this next step if that is what it takes for Kaiser to recognize the value of Hawai‘i’s workers and the quality patient care we deliver every day,” said Cade Watanabe, Financial Secretary Treasurer. “Kaiser remains a great place to get quality care – if you can get it; but how is it fair that Kaiser can pay its workers on the mainland more than they pay their workers here, while we work short-staffed and struggle to make ends meet.”
“Hawaii Alliance members continue to face staffing challenges post Covid that affect patient care and quality outcomes. Patients are now sicker and require more care while staffing ratios and workloads have not been adjusted. HNHP members are speaking out on behalf of our patients that Kaiser needs to commit to safe patient staffing ratios and a fair contract that focuses on best working conditions, wages and benefits to attract and retain the best healthcare workers at Kaiser,” states HNHP President Terilyn Carvalho Luke, RN.
Local 5 and HNHP are part of the Alliance of Health Care Unions, which represents 62,000 Kaiser Permanente health professionals in 23 local unions among eight national unions. The Alliance is simultaneously working on a national bargaining agreement that would be an addendum to each local’s contract. The contracts of 52,000 Kaiser Permanente workers also expired on Sept. 30 or Oct. 1 and nearly all have given 10-day strike notices.
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About UNITE HERE Local 5
Local 5 represents 10,000 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.
About Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals (HNHP)
Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals represents 1200 workers throughout Hawaii at all Kaiser facilities, including home health. HNHP is an independent and united union of nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, and lab professionals. For more information, visit www.hnhp.org
About the Alliance of Healthcare Unions
The Alliance of Healthcare Unions (Alliance) is a federation of 23 local unions representing over 62,000 Kaiser Permanente employees. The Alliance includes locals of AFSCME, UFCW, USW, IBT, KPNAA, IUOE, OFNHP (AFT), UNITE HERE, ILWU, and HNHP. Our members work in hundreds of job classifications in every geographic area where Kaiser Permanente has a presence.
