Workers and community supporters rally for better patient care
Kaiser union workers currently on strike will be joined by other Local 5 members and community supporters for a march through Waikīkī.
Hundreds of community members and UNITE HERE! Local 5 members who work in the hotel and healthcare industry will be staging a march and rally in Waikīkī on Thursday, February 5, 2015. The hospitality and healthcare union estimates approximately 800 participants to attend.
“I love my patients like family and I want to give them the care they need and deserve,” said Jonah Pascual, a medical assistant at Kaiser Permanente Honolulu. “This community needs Kaiser to invest in people and workers like me, not just in new buildings and facility upgrades.”
Thursday’s planned protest comes as nearly 1,900 Local 5 Kaiser workers continue an anticipated week-long strike that began on February 2, 2015. Medical assistants, receptionists and housekeepers are among the majority of Kaiser workers that are on strike to protest changes implemented by Kaiser that they say hurt patient care, such as closing urgent care clinics and laying off workers. The last state-wide strike staged by Local 5 union workers at Kaiser took place in 1986.
“I’m a member of the AiKea Movement, and we stand for healthy communities that promote health as a basic human right,” said Dr. Christine Lipat. “I’m also a holistic chiropractor who is very much interested in wellness and, in the big picture, we need to organize together to take care of ourselves and each other for a healthy community.”
Kaiser Permanente, Hawaiʻi’s largest Health Maintenance Organization (HMO), is also a nonprofit. However, in the first three quarters of 2014, Kaiser reported net profits of $3.1 billion, adding to its current $30 billion in cash reserves.
“As a single mom, good quality healthcare is really important to me,” said Lilibeth Herrell, a Sheraton Waikiki housekeeper. “Hawaiʻi is my home, and in Hawaiʻi we treat everyone with aloha. Yet Kaiser—a nonprofit—is acting like every other corporation that wants to take and take and take from us.”
UNITE HERE! Local 5 represents nearly 1,900 Kaiser Permanente workers on Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi Island. The union represents approximately 10,500 total workers in the hospitality, healthcare and food service industries throughout Hawaiʻi. Local 5 is an affiliate of UNITE HERE, an international union that represents over 250,000 workers throughout the United States and Canada.
