Some 120 union nurses this morning held a “March on the CEO” at The Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu to deliver copies of unsafe staffing reports to the office of the top hospital executive.

The reports, which document unsafe staffing incidents at the hospital, were collected over the past eight months, according to the Hawaii Nurses’ Association. Nurses also returned hundreds of copies of the employer’s proposal, which were mailed to their homes at an estimated cost of $4,000, the union said.

The march comes as approximately 600 HNA nurses at the Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women and Children are on the brink of a one-day strike scheduled for this Friday, in protest of alleged retaliation for filling out those reports.

Management at Kapi‘olani, in turn, said it was prepared to impose a lockout, meaning union nurses are not to return to work following the strike until their offered contract is accepted.

HNA and Kapi‘olani executives are expected to meet again on Thursday in a last-ditch effort to agree on a new contract before the scheduled strike and subsequent lockout.

HNA, meanwhile, is also in negotiations with The Queen’s Health Center, representing nearly 2,000 nurses whose contracts expired on June 30.

The Queen’s nurses are also advocating for safer nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, establishing limits on how many patients a nurse can be assigned at a time, and standing in solidarity with nurses at Kapi‘olani.

“As nurses, by nature and by trade, we give care,” said Donna Miyamoto, a longtime nurse at Queen’s, in an emailed statement. “The safety and well-being of our patients are very literally in our hands and it’s our No. 1 priority every day. We are asking our employer to help us assure safe care by providing reasonable nurse-to-patient ratios. They continue to refuse. ‘Ask yourself, how many people do you want to share your nurse with?’”

Jason Chang, who took the helm as Queen’s president and CEO in mid-July, replacing former president and CEO Jill Hoggard Green, did not respond directly to the march.

Queen’s Chief Nursing Executive Linda Puu responded in an emailed statement, “The Queen’s Medical Center continues its conversations with the Hawaii Nurses Association and remains hopeful that an agreement with HNA can be reached.”

HNA said Chang did not meet with the nurses this morning to discuss their concerns. The union asked that Chang attend bargaining sessions, saying he has not done so yet. Negotiations began in early April.