A Queen's spokeswoman today, however, said nurses cannot accept part of the contract package ­ in this case, wages ­ without accepting paid time off.

"They are closely linked, financially," said Queen's spokeswoman Lynn Kenton. "It's all one package."

No new negotiations are planned.

The two sides went back to the bargaining table about 2 p.m. yesterday, the first time Queen's and the nurses had met since Dec. 18. But about 11:15 p.m., negotiations at the Hawai'i Employers Council Building stalled and the talks ended.

The hospital's proposed salary increases were detailed in a full-page ad yesterday in both Honolulu daily newspapers.

Salary increases for nurses ranged from $52,107 per year to $80,662 a year, depending on experience. The ad said the hospital had proposed wage increases ranging from 21 percent to 30 percent over the next three years.

Kenton said the Queen's negotiating team had planned to discuss issues that the nurses union had publicly discussed in recent weeks: patient safety, staffing levels and mandatory overtime.

Nurses wanted to discuss paid time off last night but Kenton said the Queen's negotiating team had not planned to discuss it.

The Queen's paid time off proposal combines sick, holiday and vacation programs. Nurses would accrue up to five extra vacation days for not using sick days and could "sell back" up to 80 hours of unused paid time off each year and donate hours to fellow employees. Nurses would not lose any sick leave they currently have.

Queen's nurse Bill Richter, a member of the negotiating team, said he isn't sure what the nurses will do next.

"I don't know," he said today. "It's a bit of a dark area now. We are not sure exactly what Queen's wants."

Both sides today accused each other of not bargaining "in good faith."

"In any negotiation process there is an expectation that there is some compromise," Richter said, adding that the nurses had dropped nearly 20 proposals that could have further stalled negotiations.

Queen's negotiators felt they were hearing too many of the same issues that had already been rejected when the two sides met Dec. 16, Kenton said.

"Our negotiators felt that negotiations were not moving forward and in fact were moving backward," Kenton said.

About 800 Queen's registered nurses have been on strike since Dec. 3.

Meanwhile, doctors at St. Francis Medical Center yesterday called for an end to a strike that has severely curtailed medical services there. Altogether, about 1,400 nurses from Queen's, St. Francis and Kuakini medical centers have been on strike for more than three weeks.

The resumption of talks at Queen's and the statement by the St. Francis doctors suggested a new urgency in settling the strikes, which have disrupted patient services, reduced the ranks of nurses and support staff, and financially battered the striking workers, as well as the hospitals.

But it was unclear what the breakdown in the talks last night would mean in terms of how much longer the strike would last.

"We would like everyone to remember the mission and goal of all medical professions ­ the care of the sick and dying," Dr. Jeffrey Lau, president of the medical staff at St. Francis said in a message addressed to nurses there.

Saying doctors could no longer be silent about the dispute, Lau asked both sides to move toward a settlement.

"Above all, patients have been denied access to the hospital of their choice, one that specializes in the care of their particular disease," he said.

While the medical staff "supports the nurses fully," there is a rising concern that the strike has become "a union thing," Lau said.

"Picket lines, federal mediators who go home for the holidays and union regulations that do not allow nurses to vote on each proposal will not save patients' lives," he said.

There have been no negotiations at St. Francis since the strike began Dec. 2, and the hospital has severely reduced the number of its patients and canceled most surgeries. It also laid off more than 120 union and nonunion support employees.

St. Francis also cut back on operations in its well-known organ transplant unit and, for a time, had to reduce services to about 1,000 patients who receive dialysis treatment as outpatients. The dialysis service has since returned to normal with the aid of replacement nurses.

"We value nurses and would like to return to the bargaining table with them; however, we still have our financial obligation to maintain the financial viability of the hospital," St. Francis spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett said yesterday, responding to the medical staff's statement.