Nurses reject offer, remain on picket line

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) _ Contract negotiations involving striking nurses at Wilcox Memorial Hospital are to resume next week after management's latest proposal was roundly rejected.
Nurse D.Q. Jackson is a spokesman for the Hawaii Nurses Association. He says not a single nurse voted to accept the offer from Kauai's only hospital.
About 140 Wilcox nurses went on strike June 24th after failing to win concessions from management to put more nurses on staff.
Jackson said the hospital's latest offer represented a step backward for the nurses, because it called for ``the elimination of all nurse participation in patient care staffing.''
Hospital spokeswoman Lani Yukimura said the proposal was an effort to start up discussions toward reaching a contract agreement.