St. Francis reaches deal; Queen's nurses ratify pact
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
St. Francis Medical Center late last night reached a tentative contract agreement with its striking nurses, signalling that the seven-week O‘ahu nurses strike may be drawing to a close.
The St. Francis breakthrough, announced at 11:30 p.m., came just hours after registered nurses at The Queen’s Medical Center approved a three-year contract yesterday 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, no job cuts and a medical plan for retired nurses.
A ratification vote will be taken Sunday at the Laborers Hall. The two sides will meet today to discuss a back-to-work agreement.
The Queen’s ratification ended a walkout that began Dec. 3 at the state’s largest hospital. The nurses will return to work next Friday.
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 medical officer. Claudine Tomasa, chief negotiator for the St. Francis nurses, said, "This is truly a happy ending."
St. Francis yesterday afternoon presented an offer that called for a three-year contract and a separate retiree medical plan. The hospital, whose previous offer was a one-year deal, said the latest proposal represented “major concessions” on its part.
Representatives of the hospital and nurses union met for more than 14 hours yesterday.
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.”
Another Queen’s nurse, Liz Clavin, would not say how she voted but did say 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 its chief nursing officer, said she looked forward to welcoming the nurses back and that she hopes people will put hard feelings of the strike behind them. “We must recognize that as nurses, our primary focus is to the patient and that is what brings nurses together,” Mathews said.
It was the second nurses’ contract ratification in a week.
Last Friday, nurses at Kuakini Medical Center voted overwhelmingly to accept a contract that will give them pay raises of 20 percent over three years. The deal covered 220 nurses.
Last month, nurses at Kapi‘olani and Kaiser medical centers ratified three-year contracts with raises of 22 and 21 percent, respectively. Those hospitals averted walkouts by reaching agreements before the strike date.
