A federal judge has dismissed United Public Workers’ effort to block the transfer of three financially strapped Maui County medical facilities from the state to Kaiser Permanente Hawaii.
Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital and Clinic, and Lanai Community Hospital are currently operated by the Maui Regional System of Hawaii Health Systems Corp., a state agency.
Last June, Gov. David Ige signed into law Act 103, a measure that allowed him to negotiate the transfer of the facilities to a private entity. In September, Ige signed a transfer agreement with Kaiser, a deal that the governor said would save the state an estimated $260 million over 10 years.
UPW, which represents approximately 1,500 employees of Hawaii Health Systems Corp., filed a lawsuit against the state and a motion for a preliminary injunction based on the argument that Act 103 interfered with collective bargaining agreements between the state and bargaining units 1 and 10 on Maui, agreements that were scheduled to remain in effect until June 2017.
In acting upon the state’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, U.S. District Judge Helen Gillmor on Friday agreed with Ige’s assertion that, even if the union’s contentions were true, the union did not “state a claim upon which relief may be granted.”
Ultimately, the court ruled that the union failed to prove that Act 103 substantially impaired any of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreements in question. The court also ruled that, contrary to the union’s position, the act did not violate the contract clause of the U.S. Constitution.
”I am pleased that the court confirmed that the legislature acted within its rights in passing this law and that Governor Ige acted properly in working to implement it,” said Attorney General Doug Chin in a statement released on Friday.
Kaiser representatives have previously said the facilities will remain community hospitals open to patients with all types of insurance plans.
The state is in lease negotiations with Kaiser, which also must come to a collective bargaining agreement with the public workers’ union. The deal is expected to close on June 30.
Kaiser will begin operations on July 1.
