Hundreds of union nurses gathered this morning to return to work at Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children and to defy management’s lockout following their one-day strike on Friday.

They gathered, some in full scrubs, and marched to the entrance of the hospital at about a quarter to 7 a.m., but were met midway by Troy Branstetter, vice president of general services, informing them they could not enter due to the lockout.

“We’re ready to work,” said Rosalee Agas-Yuu, Hawaii Nurses’ Association president. “We want to go up there to our patients, but if Kapi‘olani states that they don’t want us in there, we wanted to hear from your mouth personally because these nurses are dedicated to their patients.”

The nurses then walked back to the street to hold what the union called a demonstration, holding signs reading “Illegal Lockout.”

Kapi‘olani Chief Operating Officer Gidget Ruscetta said the hospital reached out to the union this morning, before the lockout, to express again that its negotiating team is willing and available to meet again.

“This is a diffiult situation for all of us here at the medical center,” she said. “We want our nurses to be back at the bedside with their patients. We always have. Again the union has the power to end this lockout and it’s in their hands.”

On Friday evening, Kapi‘olani’s CEO David Underriner sent a letter to the Agas-Yuu via fax and email, saying the lockout would occur at 7 a.m. today unless HNA unconditionally accepts the offer presented on Monday.

“If HNA does not unconditionally accept our offer, HNA nurses shall not report to work tomorrow and will not be allowed to enter the hospital for the purpose of working,” wrote Underriner. “We have communicated this information to HNA and our nurses on multiple occasions over the last nine days. Any direction by HNA to have our nurses report for work would be misleading, intentionally disruptive, and would serve no legitimate purpose.”

Honolulu Police Department officers were present near the entrance to the parking structure, but did not stop the nurses from their walk up the roundabout and back to the sidewalk.

Management vows not to let the nurses return to work until they “unconditionally” accept the hospital’s latest offer.

Friday’s one-day strike was the second time this year that unionized Kapi‘olani nurses, who are represented by the Hawaii Nurses’ Association, walked off the job. In January, they staged a week-long strike.

Agas-Yuu said Friday’s strike was held to protest management’s retaliation against nurses who were filling out safe-staffing forms. It was also to push back against management’s alleged bullying tactics, she said.

Management denies any retaliation or bullying.

Friday also marked one year since negotiations began between Kapi‘olani and HNA, which represents about 600 nurses, with no apparent resolution on contract terms, primarily over nurse-to-patient ratios. The union has been working without a contract since December.

At 7 a.m. today after the latest strike ended, Kapi‘olani locked out all HNA-represented registered nurses with contracts that expired Nov. 30

Ruscetta, Kapiolani’s chief operating officer, said Friday’s strike was disappointing.

“We have been negotiating with the nurses union for a year,” she said. “We have met over 30 times, and we had the federal mediator involved.”

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Management has said that in the third year Kapi‘olani’s contract offer, registered nurses would receive a base salary of between $133,000 to $160,000. The union insists the issue is unsafe nurse-to-patient ratios, not pay.

To address the staffing issue, management said, Kapi‘olani is offering a “staffing matrix” that adjusts levels based on the needs of patients and a staffing council that brings nurses and nurse leaders together to enforce it.

“Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women & Children know they are the only specialty hospital for women and children and play a crucial role in our state and the Pacific,” Agas-Yuu said in a news release. “They know children and families count on their services, yet the hospital’s leaders have chosen to lock out the nurses for advocating for safe staffing standards to improve patient care.”

Kapi‘olani executives said that during the strike and lockout, a temporary workforce of nurses, most of whom have experience at Kapi‘olani, are working at the hospital.

“We have been entrusted by this community to provide excellent, safe care for our patients, and we need to do that seamlessly,” Ruscetta said. “We will not allow a labor dispute to prevent us from providing care.”