FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FEBRUARY 12, 2025

Over 200 healthcare workers to strike after 10-Day notice delivered to Hale Nani Rehab & Nursing Center

Photo and video of Hale Nani rally on January 6, 2026 available for download here

HONOLULU,HI–Last night, UNITE HERE Local 5 (Local 5) delivered a 10-day strike notice to Hale Nani Rehabilitation & Nursing Center (Hale Nani) announcing an open-ended strike to begin on Monday, February 23 at 8 a.m. The strike will impact over 200 healthcare workers including Certified Nursing Assistants and workers in the dietary, recreation, maintenance, and housekeeping department.

The collective bargaining agreement for these Hale Nani workers expired at the end of 2025 and contract negotiations have been ongoing since early December 2025. The top priority for Hale Nani workers is the reversal of schedule and service cuts that have impacted the time workers are able to spend caring for their elderly patients. Another key priority for Hale Nani workers is to protect their family health insurance coverage. Management has proposed a more than 500% increase to employee premiums for family coverage.

“I am ready to strike because I want to be able to take care of our elderly patients that call Hale Nani home, but I have more work to do and less time to do it since management cut our hours and our staff at the end of last year,” said Mildred Diego, Certified Nursing Assistant, 13 years of service. “Our patients are like family, especially our long-term care patients that have been at Hale Nani for several years, and it breaks my heart to have to rush taking care of them. We are asking management to give us the staffing we need to deliver quality patient care to the families we take care of.”

“As front-line health care workers, we clean, bathe, change, feed, monitor vital signs and assist in the recovery and rehabilitation of hundreds of patients every day,” said Cade Watanabe, Financial Secretary-Treasurer. “We love our jobs but need the proper staffing so we can provide the quality care our patients deserve while also making sure that we workers have access to quality affordable health care and a living wage.”

The last time Hale Nani workers went on strike was in 2019 when over 200 workers walked out on a one-day strike. Unless a settlement is reached, the strike is scheduled to begin on Monday, February 23 at 8 a.m. and picket lines will be running daily from 8 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Hale Nani is located at 1677 Pensacola St. Honolulu, HI 96822.

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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.