HONOLULU — After more than one year of negotiations, two strikes and an ongoing lockout that started on Sept. 14, some 600 registered nurses represented by the Hawaii Nurses Association are voting Wednesday on a new contract with Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children.

What You Need To Know

  • The union declared victory in the negotiations, saying its members 'won a monumental agreement that includes the first contractually enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios in Hawaii history
  • If the new pact is ratified as expected, nurses will return to work on Sunday
  • The nurses have been without a contract since Nov. 30, 2023
  • At the suggestion of Gov. Josh Green, the latest round of negotiations, which started last week, was facilitated by federal mediators

 

“We are pleased to reach a tentative agreement with the Hawaii Nurses’ Association,” the hospital announced on Tuesday. “This agreement reflects a year of negotiating, listening to our nurses and incorporating their priorities into this contract. As we await the voting results, we look forward to the day our nurses return to the bedside to care for our patients.”

On social media postings, the union declared victory in the negotiations, saying its members “won a monumental agreement that includes the first contractually enforceable nurse-to-patient ratios in Hawaii history."

If the new pact is ratified as expected, nurses will return to work on Sunday.

“This contract sets a new standard for what quality patient care will look like for our community,” the union stated in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Hawaii deserves the best health care, and Kapiolani nurses were willing to fight to make that a reality. Joined by our patients, families, union siblings, and community supporters, we fought for what was right and refused to give in.

The nurses have been without a contract since Nov. 30, 2023.

While terms of the new deal have not been disclosed, the hospital’s last reported offer included across-the-board raises that would make the RNs among the highest paid the state; enhanced benefits, bonuses and incentive pay; a staffing matrix that provides the ability to adjust based on the individual conditions and needs of patients; a staffing council of nursing leaders and staff nurses that would enforce the staffing matrix; and “innovative ways to provide registered nurses transparency and opportunities to participate in setting their schedules, as well as a role and a voice in the staffing process.”

At the suggestion of Gov. Josh Green, the latest round of negotiations, which started last week, was facilitated by federal mediators.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.