Kaiser medical assistants stand up for better patient care!

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii workers organized a one-day work stoppage on November 21, 2013 to protest a variety of initiatives that the state’s largest health care maintenance organization (HMO) is implementing that prevent workers from providing quality care to its patients.

Nearly 500 workers from clinics all over Oahu stopped work to support good patient care. They demand that Kaiser ensures that workers are able to do their jobs properly by issuing fair workloads, providing adequate staffing, hiring more staff to allow workers to take vacations, and respecting workers. Workers in Maui also protested in front of the Wailuku clinic.

“Working with patients and keeping them healthy is my pride and joy. I want to provide nothing but the best care for my patients,” says Cindy Aban, a medical assistant who has worked at Kaiser Permanente Honolulu since 2005, “But Kaiser isn’t hiring enough staff for us to be able to provide the very best, personalized care for our patients.”

Workers are asking patients to stand with them in support of better patient care by demanding that Kaiser take care of its workers so that the workers can care for their patients. Anyone can go online to sign it: unitehere5.org/patientpetition.

For more photos from the stop work and take action (SWATA) day, please visit our Facebook page.

Waikiki Beach Marriott workers voted yes on their new contract for a better future

Last week was full of victories for Local 5 workers. On October 16, Waikiki Beach Marriott workers voted to approve a 5-year contract with a 129-115 vote. Their new contract guarantees increased wages for tipped and nontipped workers, improved successorship and subcontracting language, the ability to decide how much of their money will go toward pension and other benefits, and more.

“We did the right thing by voting yes for our new contract. I believe it will provide us with the biggest raises in years,” says Marriott housekeeper Rosemarie Doles, “Even better than that, we get to stand as one union with our brothers and sisters from Hilton, Hyatt, and the Sheraton properties.”

Workers at the Ramada Plaza celebrate their new contract.

On October 18, with a unanimous vote, Ramada Plaza employees ratified an 8-year contract with management after working three years without a contract or wage increases. The contract begins retroactively in December 2010 and will end in December 31, 2018.

Ramada Plaza workers will receive significant wage increases for the next five years and paid union leave for leadership development and training, among other things. 100% of the workers were ready to strike if an agreement were to not have been reached, but the workers’ unity and resilience pushed management to an agreement to avoid a strike.

This is a significant victory for Ramada Plaza’s workers. The new contract ensures that Ramada Plaza will maintain the Waikiki standard that has led to the prosperity of Hawaii’s tourism industry.