Nurses at The Queen's Medical Center have called off their planned strike as they reached a tentative agreement with hospital management on a three-year collective bargaining agreement.
The Hawaiʻi Nurses' Association and hospital management came to a compromise around 1 a.m. Monday after days of 12-hour negotiations and assistance from a federal mediator.
The nurses will vote to ratify the agreement on Wednesday, which includes a nearly 17% wage increase over three years. A release said the agreement has an enforceable nurse-to-patient staffing ratios, which they expect to lead to improved ratios to the specific needs of units.
The nurses have been working on a new contract since June 30, 2024, when their previous contract ended.
"I believe this agreement demonstrates the benefits of our working partnership with HNA and what we can achieve when we commit to the shared goal of advancing nursing practice and promoting quality patient care," Linda Puu, Queen's senior vice president and chief nursing executive, said in a statement. "I'd like to express my deepest gratitude to our HNA partners for their willingness to talk through our challenges and goals as we look ahead to the future."
If an agreement had not been reached, the nurses had planned to start a three-day strike Monday at the Queen's hospitals at Punchbowl and West Oʻahu.
HNA is still in negotiations with Hawaiʻi Pacific Health for its nurses at Wilcox Medical Center on Kauaʻi. The nurses there are scheduled to go on strike Tuesday morning if an agreement is not reached.
Nurses at Kapiʻolani Medical Center, another HPH hospital, went on strike this past September before a new contract was ratified in October 2024.
