Contracts & Bargaining

Bargaining Updates: United Therapists of Hawaii (2025)

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Our UTH bargaining team

UTH bargaining team: From second to left: Robert Kikuchi, PT; Matthew Piskura, PT; Jake Elsbernd, PharmD, UNAC/UHCP lead negotiator; Jamie Young, PT; Kimberley Kudaishi, SLP;and Sherry Garrison, UNAC/UHCP negotiator.

Pictured with Debra Sung, PT, Director of Representation for the Hawaii Region, at the far left.

UTH Bargaining Update #5: May 21, 2025

Bargaining Report
Charmaine Morales, RN, UNAC/UHCP President came to visit our negotiations this week. Her solidarity and support meant a lot to our team and she gave significant input at the table.

This week in bargaining we discussed:

  • Cleaning up the grievance and arbitration process
  • Health plan premiums
  • Adding existing letters of agreement around home health staffing and outpatient staffing into the contract
  • Clarifying definitions in reference to PTA use in outpatient staffing

In totality, we’ve made eleven proposals to management but have not received any counter-proposals or initial proposals from the management team so far.

Still, our bargaining team is optimistic based on conversations at the table, and we anticipate multiple responses from management at our next bargaining session in June.

Please attend the town hall next week for a more detailed account.

Upcoming Town Hall
Join us for the next UTH virtual Town Hall meeting on May 27.

Our bargaining team will provide an update on bargaining and we look forward to responding to any questions you may have.

Please register on Memberlink to attend the meeting.

UTH Bargaining Update #5: May 2, 2025

Bargaining Report
This week, on May 1 our team continued bargaining our next contract with management.
We passed four new proposals across the table covering the following subjects:
• Union Representation
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Education and Professional Improvement
• Training and Certification

We are waiting for responses to our prior proposals on Lactation Accommodation and Paid Time Off. Meanwhile we are working hard to finalize proposals that capture all of our stated interests and support the needs of UTH members.

Upcoming Town Hall
Join us for the next UTH virtual Town Hall meeting on May 27. Our bargaining team will provide an update on bargaining and we look forward to responding to any questions you may have.

Please register on MemberLink to attend the meeting.

Future Bargaining Dates
May 20 – MAP Maile Conference Room
June 16 – Kaiser Honolulu conference room 1BC

UTH Bargaining Update #4: April 24, 2025

A Very Successful Townhall
Thank you to all UTH members who attended the townhall meeting this past Monday, April 21. In addition to the bargaining team fifteen members joined to ask questions and participate in discussion while receiving the latest information on negotiations. Your participation is very much appreciated and we hope you found the meeting informative. All members are invited to attend the next town hall in May.

This week, on April 22 we met with management to continue bargaining our next contract. The majority of time was spent discussing interests and we have now put all of our interests on the table, including these:
• Expansion of education and tuition reimbursement
• Enriching pay provisions
• PTO, ESL, and holidays
• Vacation and PTO requests
• Incorporating workload side letters into the CBA
• Wages

We also passed a new proposal to management regarding paid time off, and we are waiting for a response from management to our previously passed proposal on lactation accommodation.

Upcoming Bargaining Dates
May 1 – MAP Plumeria Conference Room

Upcoming Townhall
Our bargaining team and negotiators will be available at a townhall this coming Tuesday, May 27 at 7 pm to discuss where we are in bargaining, answer questions, and solicit feedback. Please mark your calendars to save the date and register to join this event on MemberLink.

UTH Bargaining Update #3: April 16, 2025

Proposals on the table
Yesterday, our bargaining team met with Management to continue our interest-based conversations on how to improve our UTH contract.

Topics included:
• Increases to the travel portion of tuition reimbursement
• Changes to the future model of home health care, possibly incorporating language about how the model will change as more PTAs are added to the home health model of care

Our team passed an initial proposal across the table on adding lactation accommodations language to the contract.

Using the majority of the first two days of bargaining to prioritize and explore interests has helped us get these negotiations off on the right foot. Our team is optimistic that utilizing an interest-based process will lead to productive proposals that suit the needs of the membership.

Make sure to join us next week for the town hall to discuss further!

Join our townhall Monday night to hear from our bargaining team
Our bargaining team and negotiators will be available at a town hall this coming Monday (April 21) at 7 pm to discuss where we are in bargaining, answer questions, and solicit feedback.

UTH Bargaining Update #2: April 12, 2025

Setting the Tone
UTH bargaining continued this week and our team came prepared and ready to rock.

Key issues we discussed with management included the exploration of ways to improve the vacation bidding process, how to resolve workload concerns, and evolving models of care.

We are making plans to hold a virtual Town Hall later this April and you are invited to join! Information about the date and time will be sent to you once we have the details finalized. Mahalo!

Join us for bargaining

APRIL

  • Tuesday, April 15 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile Conference Room
  • Tuesday, April 22 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile Conference Room
  • Town Hall – (more info coming soon)

MAY

  • Thursday, May 1 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
  • Tuesday, May 20 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile 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 UTH@unacuhcp.org.

UPHI and UTH bargaining teams at bargaining kickoff on March 19.

UPHI and UTH bargaining teams with negotiators and managers during interest-based bargaining training 2025-03-20

UTH Update: March 20, 2025

Our UTH and UPHI bargaining teams met the management bargaining teams for the first time on Wednesday, March 19.

Together, we all received training in interest-based bargaining (IBB) from Cassandra Braun, Director of Learning and Education for the Alliance of Healthcare Unions, and Andrea Kubo, Manager of 5 Ewa at Kaiser MOA, who both have a plethora of experience training in the Labor-Management Partnership (LMP).

IBB is the process we use to bargain contracts with KP. It’s meant to be a collaborative approach in which we explore interest to come to mutually acceptable solutions to issues facing either side during contract negotiations.

Join Us for Bargaining

  • Friday, April 11 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 2E
  • Tuesday, April 15 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile Conference Room
  • Tuesday, April 22 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile Conference Room
  • Thursday, May 1 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Plumeria Conference Room
  • Tuesday, May 20 – Kaiser Mapunapuna, Maile Conference Room
  • Monday, June 16 – Kaiser Honolulu, Conference Room 1BC

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 UTH@unacuhcp.org.