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Carroll's guests are Cindy Aban and Maria Smith, medical assistants at Kaiser Permanente and members of Local 5, Hawaii's hospitality and health care union. Kaiser has 1,800 members in Local 5, working in many types of jobs. Starting tonight and continuing until next Saturday, they will be on strike with pickets at the Honolulu Clinic from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. They will also picket at the Moanalua, Waipio, Maui and Big Island clinics.
They want you to know you should keep your appointments, but you may want to call first. They will not be blocking entrances, and the clinics will be staffed.
Cindy and Maria say the workers are concerned health care is becoming just another big business, and Kaiser is no longer working in the best interest of their customers. They have been told to rush patients through the system, and can no longer provide the personal touch of getting to know their patients. They also note Kaiser is a nonprofit organization that is making 11 million dollars a day in profit. They state pay and benefits are being cut while workloads are increasing. Strikers are also concerned about cuts in pensions and benefits for new hires, and how that will affect families down the line.
Strikers will be marching for better patient care on Thursday, February 5, at 5 p.m., starting at the Modern Hotel in Waikiki. For more information visit http://www.unitehere5.org.
Callers claim the quality of care is decreasing, while every item used during a hospital visit, not to mention prescription drugs, is charged to the patient at a very high margin of profit.
The second hour Carroll talks about violations of environmental laws in Hawaii. The government often tells us how fragile and rare Hawaii's environment is, but they do not treat it accordingly. Currently, there is a large spill of jet fuel , and a cleanup is going on at Sand Island, where jet fuel was leaking from a 68,000 barrel
fuel tank located at Hawaii Fueling Facilities Corporation (HFFC). The EPA says they are assessing the situation and working to prevent the fuel from entering the ocean to avoid a Clean Water Act violation. They say 16,000 gallons, of a reported 43,000 gallons, have been recovered. Sources report, the current fuel leak has been going on since December. Is 43,000 gallons out of a possible 68,000 barrels, an accurate
number, or is there a cover-up going on?
Checks and balances at the HFFC facility are not in place and some of the monitoring wells are reportedly covered by pavement or dirt and cannot be located. It is our understanding that, as part of the monitoring program associated with the operation of this facility, the monitoring wells are supposed to be checked once a month. But since the wells are not accessible, how are they making sure the tanks are not leaking?
Jeff Davis also joins the conversation. He announces his new show airing on KWAI 1080 am, on Friday afternoons, from 4:05 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., starting this coming Friday, February 6. Jeff, as a former gubernatorial candidate, is particularly concerned with Governor Ige's appointment of Carlton Ching as the Chairman of Department of Land and Natural Resources. He is also interested in Randy Iwase's nomination as head of the Public Utilities Commission. He discusses the issues with Carroll.
Follow: Carroll Cox, Kaiser Peranente, local 5 strike, oil spill cleanup, HFFC, EPA , Carlton Ching, Jeff Davis,, DLNR, Randy Iwase, PUC.
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