Joining nurses at Kuakini Medical Center and St. Francis Medical Center who have been on strike since Monday, nurses at Hawaii’s largest hospital, Queen's Medical Center, went on strike yesterday morning after voting overwhelmingly to walk out instead of accepting management’s latest offer. Striking over low pay and benefits that nurses say is causing many of their colleagues to leave the state and work elsewhere, the 1,400 nurses represented by the Hawaii Nurses Association have serious questions about the care patients are receiving. Hospital officials insist that reassigned registered nurses from managerial positions and replacement nurses that have been flown in are maintaining patient care, and according to the union no new talks have been scheduled.
See "More Nurses Join the Picket Lines in Hawaii", Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, December 3, 2002