Nurses at Queen’s North Hawai‘i Community Hospital ratify new contract

A possible 3-day nurses’ strike at Queen’s North Hawai‘i Community Hospital in Waimea — originally scheduled to begin today — was averted during the weekend with a vote on a new contract by hospital nurses.

Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association reports that an “overwhelming majority” of the 100 Queen’s North Hawai‘i Community Hospital nurses voted in favor of ratifying the tentative 3-year agreement presented to them Aug. 7 by hospital management.

Results of the ratification vote were confirmed at noon Aug. 15. The new contract was effective immediately upon ratification.

“These types of negotiations are never easy, and I praise the teams from the Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association and from Queen’s Health Systems for working diligently to reach a tentative agreement,” said Queen’s North Hawai‘i Community Hospital emergency room registered nurse Steven Offenbaker in a release announcing the ratification vote. “Now we must work together to provide the best patient care possible for the people of the island of Hawai‘i.”

The ratificiation brings an end to a protracted negotiations period that began in mid-December 2024.

It also will give the nurses — who have been working without a contract since the end of March 2025 — improved safe nurse-to-patient staffing ratios and wages closer to their colleagues at Queen’s Health Systems’ two O‘ahu hospitals.

“The new agreement is a positive signal that Queen’s leaders are willing to change their approach to bargaining and are beginning to take their responsibility to the community as a nonprofit health care organization seriously,” said registered nurse and Hawai‘i Nurses’ Association President Rosalee Agas-Yuu in the release.