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Today’s illegal and unconstitutional directive to freeze all federal grants and loans will disproportionately impact America’s working families.

Local governments, schools, daycare centers, health care providers and nonprofit organizations all rely on these congressionally appropriated funds to provide critical services to millions of Americans. Medicare recipients in multiple states have already reported issues accessing their health care benefits.

Congress can and should do everything in its power to stop these funding cuts and restore confidence in its ability to act as a check on the president’s power.

OPEIU is proud to honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. During his life, Dr. King bridged the gap between the labor and civil rights movements. “All labor has dignity,” King declared in Memphis, Tennessee, while supporting striking sanitation workers shortly before his death.
Honoring Dr. King’s legacy means continuing the unfinished fight against racism and poverty until both are eradicated from American society. By continuing to organize, OPEIU works each and every day to bring about a future where all working people are treated with dignity.
Happy MLK Day from Team OPEIU.
Learn more about the AFL-CIO’s civil rights work here.

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Honolulu, Hawai‘i — The nurses of The Queen’s Medical Center reached a tentative agreement with the hospital’s management early this morning, averting a three-day strike that was scheduled to begin today at 7 am.

The three-year agreement, which must now be ratified by the nearly 2,000 nurses represented by the Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association (HNA), focuses on enforceable nurse-to-patient staffing ratios to improve patient care and includes a nearly 17% wage increase over the three-year period. The electronic ratification vote for the nurses from both the Punchbowl (Manamana) and West Oʻahu campuses will be held on Wednesday, Jan. 15.

Pending final approval, the agreement is expected to lead to:

• Improved staffing ratios tailored to the specific needs of units;
• Enhanced recruitment and retention initiatives to ensure sustainable staffing levels; and
• A renewed focus on employee well-being and RN workload support.

OPEIU celebrates the life and legacy of Nancy Wohlforth, a pioneering labor leader and activist who served as our union’s secretary-treasurer for many years. Wohlforth passed away Dec. 31 at the age of 79.

Her entire life, Wohlforth was an activist for the rights of working people, and a warrior in the fight for racial justice, gender justice and against war. As fearless as she was dedicated, she broke down barrier after barrier. One of the first openly gay labor leaders in the United States, she was a powerful voice in the fight for gay rights, particularly in the workplace. Wohlforth was a founding member and former president of Pride at Work (PAW), the LGBTQIA+ constituency group of union activists affiliated with the AFL-CIO. Through PAW and beyond, she dedicated herself to ensuring equality for all LGBTQIA+ individuals in their workplaces, unions and communities, and to creating a labor movement that promotes diversity and inclusion and ensures dignity and respect for all working people. She became the first openly LGBTQIA+ member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, the federation’s governing body.

Reflecting on her years in the labor movement, Wohlforth once said, “Retiring from OPEIU is so hard to do because I’ve had a love affair with this union since 1978 when I started out with OPEIU Local 3. And, as secretary-treasurer, I’ve had the most difficult, most exciting job of my life. I got the chance to build this union of ours, and to fight for things we believe in like health care for all, domestic partner benefits and social justice.”

She warmly remembered “the thousands of OPEIU members who have marched with me, organized with me, lobbied with me, rallied with me, negotiated with me, joked with me, befriended me, hugged me and most of all, have been with me” through it all.

Wohlforth is survived by Denice Lombard, her wife and partner of more than 43 years.  “Every single thing I’ve done in this union — every single thing I am in life — is because of her,” Wohlforth once said. 

A celebration of life will be held in the spring in Washington, D.C. on a date to be determined.

OPEIU remembers Wohlforth and is forever grateful to her for all she accomplished on behalf of the union and its members.

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As we celebrate the new year, we’re also taking time to reflect on the past year. Throughout 2024, OPEIU members continued to organize for and win strong union contracts to improve their lives at work and in their communities.
 
This upcoming year will be no different. We are ready to work each and every day to build power from worker to worker, workplace to workplace, and state to state. OPEIU will remain – as we have since our founding 80 years ago – on the front lines of the fight for economic justice at work and in our communities. 
 
We hope you have a relaxing and restful start to your new year. We look forward to continuing to stand shoulder to shoulder with our union siblings across the country in 2025 and beyond. 

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