Contracts & Bargaining

Bargaining Updates: United Nurse Anesthetists of Hawaii (2025)

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UNAHI Bargaining Team

From left to right:

Sherry Garrison, UNAC/UHCP staff representative
Steven Bazan, CRNA
Tony Holser, CRNA
Geraldine Doronio, CRNA
Jake Elsbernd, PharmD, lead negotiator

Bargaining team for UNAHI at first day of negotiations

UNAHI Bargaining Update #9:May 9, 2025

This week, Thursday, May 8 was a busy day for our team as we met to continue contract negotiations with Kaiser Permanente management.

We passed a new proposal across the table about patient care advocacy, and we responded to prior proposals from management on reduction in force and recall, the savings clause, and the corrective action procedure. We believe that a fair and transparent process to address any performance concerns with objective and constructive feedback is vital to the interests of our membership.

Throughout the day our conversations around these proposals were in-depth and targeted toward reaching results beneficial to UNAHI members. We look forward to continuing the work of finding solutions at our next bargaining session on May 22.

Thank you to our CRNA members who have come to observe bargaining and support our team’s efforts!

Future Bargaining Dates

May 22 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
May 29 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
June 5 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Room
June 18 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
June 26 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E

Take Action
Remember to wear your UNAC/UHCP gear on bargaining days! If you don’t have any branded UNAC/UHCP items you can simply wear blue shirts to show solidarity. Every little show of support helps!

If you are interested in attending bargaining as an observer please reach out to a bargaining team member. You are not required to stay the entire day. Feel free to join us when you can even if only for an hour or two.

UNAHI Bargaining Update #8: April 30, 2025

Bargaining Report
We are pleased to announce that today, April 30, our UNAHI bargaining team signed another Tentative Agreement (TA), covering the “Agreement” clause of the contract.

In addition, we passed proposals on probationary period and performance evaluation, corrective action, seniority, and Reduction in force and recall. We received a response from management to our proposal regarding the savings clause.

We continue to build momentum and are excited to collect another TA towards our new contract. Thanks to our CRNA members who have come to observe and support our bargaining team’s efforts!

Town Hall on Thursday, May 1
We are holding a Town Hall for UNAHI members on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 7pm HST. Please register and plan to attend this important meeting as we will conduct a thorough review of where things stand in bargaining.

Future Bargaining Dates and Town Hall
May 1 – Town Hall
May 8 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 22 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 29 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E

Take Action
Remember to wear your UNAC/UHCP gear on bargaining days! If you don’t have any branded UNAC/UHCP items you can simply wear blue shirts to show solidarity. Every little show of support helps!

If you are interested in attending bargaining as an observer please reach out to a bargaining team member. Bargaining typically begins at 9 a.m. and concludes by 5 p.m. You are not required to stay the entire day. Feel free to join us when you can even if only for an hour or two, or all day, the choice is yours!

The UNAHI team proudly displays a Tentative Agreement signed on April 24.

UNAHI Bargaining Update #7: April 25, 2025

Signs of Progress
On April 24 we met with management to continue bargaining our next contract. Encouragingly we received responses to five proposals we had previously passed, covering these subjects:
• Agreement
• Preamble
• Seniority
• Probationary period and Performance Evaluation
• Status

After making some clarifying inquiries regarding their proposal to us on Status we passed back to them a counter on that subject. We also passed a new proposal to management on Union Representation.

We are pleased to announce that we signed a Tentative Agreement (TA) on the Preamble to our contract. In all we have reached two TAs towards the completion of our Agreement.

Representatives from QGenda attended and demonstrated to us how their App works to assist with staff scheduling. The presentation was highly informative for both sides and we will continue to explore technological solutions to scheduling as we move forward.

Town Hall on Thursday, May 1
We are holding a Town Hall for UNAHI members on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 7pm HST. Please register and plan to attend this important meeting as we will conduct a thorough review of where things stand in bargaining.

Future Bargaining Dates and Town Hall
April 30 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Room
May 1 – Town Hall
May 8 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 22 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 29 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E

Take Action
Remember to wear your UNAC/UHCP gear on bargaining days! If you don’t have any branded UNAC/UHCP items you can simply wear blue shirts to show solidarity. Every little show of support helps!

If you are interested in attending bargaining as an observer please reach out to a bargaining team member. Bargaining typically begins at 9 a.m. and concludes by 5 p.m. You are not required to stay the entire day. Feel free to join us when you can even if only for an hour or two, or all day, the choice is yours!

UNAHI Bargaining Update #6: April 18, 2025

This Week in Bargaining
On April 17 we met to bargain again with management. Our team continued discussion and development of proposals that address the needs of UNAHI members and we passed to management new proposals covering Contract Agreement, Contract Preamble, and Status.

Management came to the table with questions, but no responses. Our team is awaiting responses to fifteen proposals that we have passed to the management team, whereas we owe them one response. Based on our conversations, next week we expect more responses from Management.

In our discussions revolving around transparency in scheduling processes, we invited a representative from the scheduling app QGenda to present at our next session on what the platform offers. Once both sides better understand what scheduling technology is available, we hope to find a way to improve our scheduling processes.

Town Hall on Thursday, May 1
We are holding a Town Hall for UNAHI members on Thursday, May 1, 2025 at 7pm HST. Please register and plan to attend this important meeting as we will conduct a thorough review of where things stand in bargaining.

Future Bargaining Dates and Town Hall
April 24 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Room
April 30 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Room
May 1 – Town Hall
May 8 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 22 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E
May 29 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 2E

Take Action
Member actions send a strong message to management and one of the easiest ways for members to support the bargaining effort is by wearing your UNAC/UHCP gear on bargaining days! If you don’t have any branded UNAC/UHCP items you can simply wear blue shirts to show solidarity. We are in this to win and appreciate your support!

If you are interested in attending bargaining as an observer please reach out to a bargaining team member. All bargaining sessions are open for members to attend. We typically bargain from 9-5, but some of the time is spent in caucus. Please be advised you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement to attend.

UNAHI Bargaining Update #5: April 11, 2025

Crucial Conversations
Our UNAHI bargaining team is focused, upbeat and showing up ready to go at each and every bargaining session!

This week, we leaned into the importance of creating a transparent and predictable scheduling process, emphasizing the issue as a high priority for our members. Yesterday’s conversations with management were framed around how to address our members’ needs while also satisfying departmental operational needs.

More to come at the next session!

Join us for bargaining
Thursday, April 17 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Thursday, April 24 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Wednesday, April 30 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room

All bargaining sessions are open to all members. We typically bargain from 9 – 5, but some of the time is spent in caucus. If you would like to attend a bargaining session, please be advised you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

UNAHI bargaining team 4/2/25

UNAHI Bargaining Update #4: April 4, 2025

Protecting our members
Yesterday in bargaining we proposed a contract article on harassment that would provide contractual protections for our members against discrimination, unlawful harassment, and retaliation.

We also reviewed the employer’s counters on ground rules for the negotiations; probationary period, and performance evaluations.

We began working on seniority which we intend to propose on April 10.

Join us for bargaining
Thursday, April 3 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
Thursday, April 10 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
Thursday, April 17 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Thursday, April 24 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Wednesday, April 30 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room

All bargaining sessions are open to all members. We typically bargain from 9 – 5, but some of the time is spent in caucus. If you would like to attend a bargaining session, please be advised you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

UNAHI Bargaining Update #3: March 20, 2025

UNAHI bargaining team, March 20, 2025

We won our first tentative agreement (TA) today, an article called Courtesy which encourages management and employees to work together in a courteous and dignified manner.

We proposed ground rules to make the bargaining more efficient.

We also passed two new proposals to management:
1. Grievance and Arbitration gives us a formal process to challenge contract violations and unfair discipline.

2. Strikes and Lockouts ensures that no work stoppages will occur during the term of the contract.

Management gave us counters to proposals we made last week on two articles: Non-Discrimination, and Performance and Evaluation.

Join us for bargaining
Thursday, April 3 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
Thursday, April 10 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
Thursday, April 17 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Thursday, April 24 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
Wednesday, April 30 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room

All bargaining sessions are open to all members. We typically bargain from 9 – 5, but some of the time is spent in caucus. If you would like to attend a bargaining session, please be advised you will be asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. We encourage those who are interested to attend. Please reach out with any questions to UNAHI@unacuhcp.org.

UNAHI bargaining team

UNAHI Bargaining Update #2: March 14, 2025

In our first negotiating session, our bargaining team made six contract proposals, covering:

Courtesy

  • Just culture
  • Probationary period and evaluation
  • Recognition and coverage
  • Savings clause
  • Non-discrimination

In some ways, just culture might be the most important. Just culture helps ensure that our workplace remains one where employees can share safety concerns to improve processes and achieve the safest conditions for optimal patient care.

In contract bargaining, each side makes proposals, the other side counters. When an agreement is reached on an article between our union and management, that becomes a tentative agreement or TA. Our bargaining team is optimistic that we will reach our first TA in next week’s negotiations.

We have a new name
Our new chapter has an official new name!

Our new names is UNAHI (pronounced oo-NAH-hee, like unagi or ahi), which stands for the United Nurse Anethesthetists of Hawaii.

Join us for bargaining
Our next bargaining session is Thursday, March 20.

UNAHI Bargaining Update #1: March 1, 2025

Our CRNA bargaining team met the management bargaining team for the first time on Thursday, February 27.

Together, both teams received training in interest-based bargaining from a mediator from FMCS, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. IBB is the process we use to bargain contracts with KP. It’s meant to be a collaborative approach to resolving our interests and solving problems to get to a strong contract.

Join us for bargaining
We invite all members to attend bargaining. Hear proposals from both sides and share input with our union bargaining team. When management sees a strong member turnout, they know we’re all paying attention and that we all care. Collective action is what makes us strong. When we stand together, we win.

Upcoming Bargaining Dates:

  • Thursday, 3/13: Kaiser Honolulu Conference room 2E
  • Thursday, 3/20: Kaiser Mapunapuna Plumeria Conference Room
  • Thursday, 4/3: Kaiser Honolulu Conference room 2E
  • Thursday, 4/10: Kaiser Honolulu Conference room 2E
  • Thursday, 4/17: Kaiser Mapunapuna Plumeria Conference Room
  • Thursday, 4/24: Kaiser Mapunapuna Plumeria Conference Room
  • Wednesday, 4/30: Kaiser Mapunapuna Plumeria Conference Room

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us at HawaiiCRNA@unacuhcp.org.

Update: March 14

In our first negotiating session, our bargaining team made six contract proposals, covering:

  • Courtesy
  • Just Culture
  • Probationary Period and Evaluation
  • Recognition and Coverage
  • Savings Clause
  • Non-Discrimination

In some ways, Just Culture might be the most important. Just Culture helps ensure that our workplace remains one where employees can share safety concerns to improve processes and achieve the safest conditions for optimal patient care.

In contract bargaining, each side makes proposals, the other side counters. When an agreement is reached on an article between our union and management, that becomes a Tentative Agreement or TA. Our bargaining team is optimistic that we will reach our first TA in next week’s negotiations.

We Have a New Name

Our new chapter has an official new name!
Our new name is UNAHI (pronounced oo-NAH-hee, like unagi or ahi), which stands for the United Nurse Anesthetists of Hawaii.

Join us for Bargaining

Our next bargaining session is Thursday, March 20 at Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria conference room.

Bargaining Dates

  • Thursday, March 20
  • Thursday, April 3
  • Thursday, April 17
  • Thursday, April 24
  • Wednesday, April 30