ÌìÃÀÊÓƵ

Maui healthcare workers and residents will be negatively impacted under privatization of the Maui Memorial Medical Center, with service and employee reductions. We must put the patients before ourselves. All patients of all ages will be affected if the state abandons its responsibility of healthcare for the people of Maui.

Claims of closing the hospital due to budget shortfalls is fear-mongering worthy of Trump and claims that the people of Maui will benefit from privatization with better facilities and services is not realistic.

Maui’s beauty and charm is anchored in its rural character. However, being rural has certain economic realities attached. Due to its smaller population, Maui cannot afford the same quality and quantity of healthcare services that are available in urban areas. For the same reason, Maui cannot attract and retain certain medical specialists.

Has anyone given thought as to why the Maui hospital system is losing money? Well-meaning and expensive hospital projects, cardiovascular services, emergency helicopter services, etc., have saved lives but have financially bankrupted the hospital. In answer to this mismanagement, the state suggests cutting pay and benefits to healthcare workers.

The state government has broken its labor contract with the healthcare workers’ union in order to privatize. And, so, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stopped implementation of the law through Sept. 30.

The state was confident that it had the power to quash any debate or objections, but through its actions, it has caused delays in hiring staff, paying vendors, etc., making conditions at Maui Memorial more difficult. Also, the state is causing workers to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in accumulated benefits and the governor plans to veto HB2077, a bill passed by the Senate that offers some compensation to the workers. Is that OK?

Kaiser Permanente’s Maui Health Systems is offering pay and benefit cuts that effectively erase all the gains nurses made since 2011. That once again puts their wages and benefits approximately 30 percent behind those of Oahu nurses and Kaiser clinic workers. Is that how you maintain and attract a professional work force?

Did you consider that pay and benefit cuts hurt the local business economy? Employees have less money to spend on goods and services, causing small family businesses to suffer.

State healthcare workers are prohibited from striking. But now, with privatization, they can strike. This means the only hospital on Maui could close if contract negotiations hit an impasse.

If the state finds it beneficial to privatize the hospital, then why not the police and fire department?

Government mismanagement continues to create conditions in which state and private-sector workers are fighting each other over pay cuts. Unions, for better or worse, have led the way in improving wages and benefits for all workers.

Who benefits from low wages, and from workers fighting each other over wages and benefits? Not the people of Hawaii