What:  Worker Strike & Picket

Where:   Kaiser Honolulu Clinic
                 1010 Pensacola Street

When: Tuesday, January 19, 2009, 6:00 a.m.

Honolulu, Jan. 8 – UNITE HERE Local 5, the union that represents nearly 1,800 health care workers – employed by Kaiser Permanente at 21 facilities on Oahu, Maui and the Big Island – has announced plans for a limited duration strike at Kaiser’s Honolulu Clinic on Tuesday, January 19, 2010.

In a formal letter delivered earlier today, Local 5 officially informed Kaiser Permanente and the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services of its plans to strike beginning at 6:00 a.m. HST on January 19th .

Today’s announcement comes one day after Local 5 formally filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Kaiser Permanente for trying to implement the subcontracting of union work and bargaining in bad faith.

Dona Clamucha, a Pharmacy cashier with Kaiser said, “Kaiser wants to send our mail order pharmacy work to Colorado and wants the right to subcontract our jobs, but we deserve better. In these economic times, we have to keep jobs in Hawaii not ship them off to the mainland.”

Cindy Aban who has worked as a Medical Assistant for the last five years added, “Hawaii is my home. Hawaii is my family. We want to help deliver good quality patient care that meets the health care needs of our community, but how can we do that if our work is subcontracted out to someone 5,000 miles away in Colorado.”

Hundreds of Local 5 members are expected to participate in the strike on Jan. 19th in hopes of preventing Kaiser Permanente from subcontracting their work.

For more information visit www.Local5Deliver.org

UNITE HERE Local 5 is the Hawaii-based branch of the UNITE HERE union, which represents over 265,000 North American members. Local 5 has represented union workers at Kaiser Permanente since Kaiser’s start in Hawaii in 1959.