Stronger Together: Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals Vote to Join Forces with the AFT

HONOLULU-The AFT executive council voted unanimously tonight to affiliate with the 1,500-strong Hawaii Nurses and Healthcare Professionals union, which represents nurses, nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists and laboratory professionals at Kaiser facilities across the Aloha State.

HNHP will secure extensive support and resources from the over 1.8 million-member national AFT at the bargaining table and the ballot box to tackle policy and professional issues and boost organizing, legal, research, communications, OSHA, and political and legislative expertise.

The AFT vote follows overwhelming local votes earlier in favor of affiliation from both HNHP's elected board and HNHP members. HNHP first approached the AFT about a potential national agreement earlier this year.

HNHP President Teri Carvalho said: "The decision to affiliate with the AFT marks a new chapter for our union, the HNHP, that builds on our strength, expands our reach and affirms our shared belief that we will be stronger together. We have already seen what is possible when we work together, with the recent historic first HNHP strike, partnering on our campaign for safe patient staffing laws here in Hawaii, and collaboration and guidance on recent bargaining proposals that have led to successful tentative agreements for HNHP's members.

"Now, through affiliation, we are committing to that partnership, bringing the full strength, resources and national influence of the 1.8 million-member AFT into our fight for quality care and fair treatment for Hawaii's healthcare professionals."

The AFT is the fastest growing healthcare union in the country with over 250,000 members, the second-largest U.S. nurses union and the largest union of professionals in the AFL-CIO. More than 35 new local unions and several independent unions chose to join the AFT this year. In Hawaii, the AFT already represents 3,000 faculty members-including nurse educators-at the University of Hawaii who belong to the University of Hawaii Professional Assembly (UHPA-AFT), following an affiliation vote in 2023.

AFT President Randi Weingarten hailed the agreement: "This historic affiliation shows we are truly stronger together. HNHP members have been on the frontlines in their fight for patient care, dignity, voice and fair pay, and we are so proud to have their backs. We will bring the full force and expertise of our growing national union to their battle for safe staffing in the state Legislature, strengthen their connection to Kaiser workers on the West Coast, and help them bargain the contracts they need and deserve.

"Each year, more workers are seeing the value of belonging to the AFT. Together, we are fighting to fund public services, protect our rights, strengthen our schools and ensure working people are able to not just cover life's necessities but also have a living wage, decent healthcare and a good retirement. It's a fight that we can't afford to lose."

HNHP is currently working closely with the AFT on passing a safe staffing bill in Hawaii to ensure minimum staffing levels, mirroring the union's efforts in Oregon, Washington state and Connecticut. HNHP maintains an especially close relationship with Kaiser workers represented by the Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP-AFT). The two unions recently joined each other on strike over Kaiser's failure to reach an acceptable contract, while it pays its CEO $7,400 an hour and over $15 million a year.

Following the affiliation, in addition to sustained national resources and ongoing staff support, HNHP members will receive access to a range of AFT and AFL-CIO benefits, including life insurance, disability payments, death benefits, accidental death and dismemberment benefits, ID theft protection, automobile towing and service calls, strike and lockout benefits, scholarships, professional occupational and liability coverage, trauma counseling and a wide range of discounts on products and services.

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The AFT represents 1.8 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers; paraprofessionals and other school-related personnel; higher education faculty and professional staff; federal, state and local government employees; nurses and healthcare workers; and early childhood educators.