LIHU'E, Kaua'i — Nurses at Wilcox Memorial Hospital will begin walking picket lines at 7 a.m. today in the Hawai'i Nurses Association strike against the island's largest hospital.

The last nurses strike against the hospital was in 1987. Wilcox plans to stay open and has imported contract nurses from the Mainland. The neighboring Kaua'i Medical Clinic is not involved in the strike.

Linda Rozelle, a nurse and manager of the hospital's medical/surgical teams and its women's and infant's health programs, said management personnel will work with contract nurses to carry out hospital functions.

Earlier, she said the hospital expected to bring in 50 to 60 Mainland nurses who would work 12-hour shifts to cover for the hospital's 140 regular nurses, some of whom are full-time but many of whom are part-time or on-call nurses.

Nurses have met with police and with Mayor Bryan Baptiste to review picketing areas and schedules.

Hawai'i Nurses Association attorney John Carroll said the two sides met informally Thursday in a session called by the federal mediation service, but that there was no progress.

"I don't expect any 11th-hour sessions, although either side can call a meeting at any point," Carroll said.

The two sides agreed on salaries early in negotiations, according to both Carroll and Wilcox Health System chief medical officer Ken Pierce.

"We took the employer's first wage proposal," Carroll said. Hospital representative Lani Yukimura said that proposal was for a 21 percent increase over three years.

Carroll said the main remaining sticking point in negotiations involves staffing. He said nurses feel the existing patient classification system is arbitrary and they want a new, clear classification system that identifies the number of nurses needed for specific patient requirements.

Yukimura said the hospital feels its existing system is clear, but has agreed to create a committee to work with nurses to develop a system both could accept.

State Sen. Gary Hooser, D-7th (Kaua'i, Ni'ihau), released a letter he wrote to Chuck Sted, president of Hawai'i Pacific Health, which runs Wilcox Hospital and Kaua'i Medical Clinic. Hooser called the importing of Mainland nurses a "hardball strike breaking" strategy.

"Importing off-island nurses to take the jobs of our friends and neighbors is not a strategy that will work," said Hooser, who planned to join nurses on the picket line this morning.

County officials said the county bus, which normally stops in front of the hospital foyer, will eliminate that stop to avoid delays in its schedule.

The nearest stop will be at Wal-Mart. Senior citizens and disabled residents who would have difficulty walking from the store to the hospital can call for the assistance of county paratransit buses, at 241-6410.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.