Both sides said they are scheduled to return to the bargaining table at the Hawai‘i Employers Council at 9 p.m. to try to finish up.

Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association Collective Bargaining Organization director Sue Scheider left the meeting this morning to go to a previously scheduled all-day meeting. “There are still multiple issues left to resolve in the back-to-work agreement that could indeed delay or prevent resolution,” she said. The mediator involved also has scheduling conflicts today.

The walkout began May 5 at the 162-bed WahiawÅ General Hospital, the only 24-hour primary and emergency care medical facility between ‘Ewa and Kahuku.

The settlement was reached at 7:30 p.m., about 10 hours after the two sides went back to the bargaining table. A ratification vote is scheduled for tomorrow. Nurses would begin returning to work on Sunday. “It’s a relief to finally have it over,” said nurse Randy Pasani.

The two sides are still hashing out a return-to-work agreement that clarifies issues such as when health benefits resume and what happens to seniority and vacation.

Hospital spokesman Richard Aea confirmed that the tentative deal calls for wage increases of

19 percent over three years and that management dropped a proposed increase in medical co-payments. WahiawÅ nurses now earn $28.60 an hour.

Aea said management is frustrated that the union negotiators have said they want the same agreements worked out for three Honolulu hospitals but are disputing those terms in the back-to-work negotiations. “We’ve given them exactly what the town hospitals got and they don’t want it,” he said.

Aea said scheduling of the returning nurses has been a sticking point. He said he lacks a complete list of nurses who wish go back, so some will not get their old shifts back until he is certain that there are enough nurses to cover all shifts.

When the strike began, 65 nurses were covered by the contract, but Scheider said that about half have since found permanent work elsewhere.

The union worries that preferential treatment will go to nurses who crossed the picket line. “The issue is one of fairness for all nurses, those who participated in the strike and those who do not,” Scheider said.

The tentative pact limits mandatory overtime, preserves the health insurance premium, and addresses health and safety issues, Scheider said. For the first time, she said, a longevity step is included to reward nurses with at least 10 years of service by giving them an additional $1 an hour, beginning in the contract’s second year.

“Overall, we’re very pleased,” Scheider said. “The nurses were able to achieve what they went out on strike for.”

One issue not completely resolved is the pension plan. Scheider said negotiations will continue over the next three months. If no agreement is reached, the hospital can reopen the contract in April 2004. Nurses could then strike again, or the matter could be turned over to an independent arbitrator, Scheider said.

The tentative agreement marks an end to a turbulent year for O‘ahu hospitals. In December, nearly 1,400 nurses at three major hospitals — St. Francis, Kuakini and Queen’s — went on strike for about six weeks.