Lydia Brandes, who worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit for 20 years before her retirement, joins workers from Maui Memorial Medical Center as they picket in front of the hospital in Wailuku on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024. The Maui News/Eli Pace

Union workers and Maui Health have reached an agreement that members of the bargaining team are calling “historic” and say should avoid further strikes after hundreds of health care workers walked off the job for three days in November.

Announced on Monday by the bargaining team representing the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii, a tentative four-year agreement has been reached with Maui Health that includes “significant wage increases” for the lowest-paid union workers and “enforceable staffing language” to help safeguard patient care.

The bargaining team says the agreement makes strong gains toward meeting the goals set by the nurses and health care workers at the beginning of negotiations, and the lowest-paid workers like clerical staff and receptionists will be receiving raises anywhere from 27% to 49.86% over four years.

According to members of the bargaining team, all union members’ wages will increase from at least 21% up to 97.52% over the life of the contract. Matt Pelc, a CT Tech and chair of the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii, said the new contract will make Maui Health much more competitive when it comes to attracting and retaining employees.

“If the money is what’s influencing people, we have a leg up in that now, but we think the care and the staffing are what’s really going to help,” he said. “I think this contract is going to do a lot to help with staffing and improve the care we’re able to give on this island and then also retain our employees.”

The contract covers Maui Memorial Medical Center, Kula Hospital and Lanai Community Hospital. Hundreds of workers at the three facilities went on strike from Nov. 4-7. At the time, they said their most important demands were securing livable wages and guaranteed patient-to-staff ratios.

According to the bargaining team, the tentative agreement also includes language setting enforceable staffing levels and standards with new collaboration between registered nurses and nurse management.

“If we didn’t get some strong language for staffing, a deal could never get done no matter how much money they tried to throw at us,” Pelc said.

The bargaining team says they reached the agreement with Maui Health, which is managed by Kaiser Permanente, on Dec. 20. Union members had a chance to review the details and discuss them with the bargaining team and chief negotiator during a series of meetings from Jan. 2-6.

Union members then cast anonymous votes electronically, and after the votes were counted on Monday, the United Nurses and Health Care Employees of Hawaii had decided overwhelmingly to ratify the new four-year contract with Maui Health.

According to the bargaining team, this was the first-ever strike by this group of workers, and their efforts in the negotiations were aided by support in the community. On Nov. 26, Maui County Council passed a resolution urging Maui Health and Kaiser to settle the negotiations in the best interests of all county residents.

“Our union is not just nurses only; it’s 900 members of all different classifications,” Pelc said. “One of our big sticking points was the lowest paid people like nonprofessionals, Maui Health has always left them behind, and we made it a priority and stayed united to make sure they got significant pay increases. … I’m super proud of that. A lot of them have been at the hospital for 15, 20 years plus, and our team stayed united for them and they stayed united for our nurses to get the staffing ratios — and I think it worked out great.”

The contract runs retroactively from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2028. Negotiations began in July and spanned 26 bargaining sessions.