Queen's nurses will return to work next Friday.

About 340 St. Francis nurses will vote Sunday on whether to ratify their deal.

If the St. Francis nurses approve their tentative contract it will bring to a close a strike that has lasted more than seven weeks, involved three hospitals, and sent a total of 1,400 nurses to picket lines.

Kuakini Medical Center and its striking nurses settled their contract dispute earlier this month.

The St. Francis breakthrough, announced at 11:30 p.m., came just hours after registered nurses at Queen's approved a three-year contract that will give them a 21 percent pay raise over three years.

The St. Francis agreement provides for an 18 percent raise over three years and a medical plan for retired nurses.

The Queen's ratification ended a walkout that began Dec. 3 at the state's largest hospital. .

St. Francis was the last of three O'ahu hospitals affected by strikes to reach a deal with its nurses. About 340 nurses have been on strike since Dec. 2. Yesterday, St. Francis nurses and officials met with a federal mediator for the first time since Jan. 3.

"The medical center appreciates that the union has partnered with us to reach this agreement," said Sister Beatrice Tom, St. Francis chief executive officer.

Vince Noren, chair of the St. Francis nurses' bargaining unit thanked hospital administration for helping to reach an agreement.

"I applaud St. Francis management for listening to their nurses and to what it would take to bring back the 'care' in 'healthcare,'" said Noren, who also praised the nurses for their "unity and steadfastness."

St. Francis spokeswoman Maggie Jarrett said hospital officials were also pleased a tentative settlement was reached.

Jarrett said nurses gave the hospital a contract proposal around noon yesterday, with the hospital making a counter-proposal around 3 p.m.

"By 5 p.m., it appeared an agreement was firming up," said Jarrett, who said a major sticking point during negotiations was the length of the contract.

Jarrett said the hospital initially proposed a one-year contract, which was turned down by the nurses. Last week, St. Francis' striking nurses countered the hospital's offer with a three-year proposal with wage increases of 4 percent, 7 percent and 8 percent, that the hospital rejected.

"Both sides agreed the contract should be three years, and eventually agreed on an amount that was within the hospital's financial means," Jarrett said.

About 680 of Queen's 740 nurses took part in yesterday's ratification vote. The Hawai'i Nurses' Association would not disclose the vote tally and would only characterize the vote as ratifying the contract by a "significant" margin.

When the Queen's ratification vote result was announced at about 7:30 p.m. at a union hall, strike coordinator Lewis Hippach went immediately to the hospital to break down the picket lines and tell nurses there the news.

The new contract calls for wage increases of 8 percent, 6 percent and 7 percent over three years. Nurses with 10 years of experience at Queen's currently earn about $62,629 a year, before overtime. The new contract will increase average pay at Queen's to $75,781 in the third year of the contract.

Nurse Carmen Malinis said she voted to ratify and is happy with the contract. She said the strike sent a strong message to the community that nurses are concerned about patient safety.

The walkout "was worth it," Malinis said. "I really had to weigh the benefits versus the risks of what I was going through and it was worth it to me to go to bat for the issues that we fought for."

Queen's nurse, Liz Clavin, would not say how she voted but said she was disappointed with the contract.

"Many, many people told me they were going to ratify even though they didn't want this contract because they were very broke, they were very demoralized and tired of being on strike," Clavin said.

Negotiators for Queen's and its nurses reached a tentative contract agreement Jan. 8, but soon after details of the pact reached the nurses, many expressed their dissatisfaction with the contract. One major objection was over a management-backed provision that called for a system of "paid time off" that would combine vacation and sick leave in an attempt to reduce absenteeism.

Several nurses said that because of the nature of their job, they often get sick or are injured, and many felt they would lose most of their vacation time to cover sick days. Queen's management, however, said the system would reward nurses who don't use their allotment of sick-leave days.

Barbara Mathews, Queen's vice president for patient care and chief nursing officer, said she looked forward to welcoming the nurses back and she hopes people will put hard feelings of the strike behind them.