Registered nurses at Hawai'i's "Big Five" hospitals ratified their final contract this week, giving them pay raises ranging from 12 percent in one year to 23 percent over three years.

While the contract issues weren't as contentious as they were three years ago, union officials said the memories of 2002's nurses strike — combined with the current worldwide nursing shortage — helped win big raises for registered nurses at Kuakini Medical Center, The Queen's Medical Center, Kapi'olani Medical Center, St. Francis Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente.

"In the community, it's like, 'Wow, look at how much the nurses got,' " said Aggie Pigao Cadiz, executive director of the Hawai'i Nurses Association. "When you look at firefighters and police and teachers getting single-digit raises, you've got to look at the nurses and think those are phenomenal packages."

Cadiz said that a registered nurse with two years' experience at a hospital on O'ahu makes about $35 an hour.

The trend of big raises began in October when nurses at St. Francis ratified a one-year contract giving them 12 percent raises.

"That's unprecedented," Cadiz said. "That kind of set the tone for salaries in the other facilities."

Subsequent negotiations at the other hospitals resulted in three-year contracts that included raises of 21 percent at Kapi'olani; 20.5 percent at Queen's and 22 percent at Kuakini.

On Thursday, nurses at Kaiser ratified a three-year contract that gave them 23 percent raises. In January, Kaiser nurses also will vote on which union should represent them.

Representatives for most of the hospitals said that they couldn't comment immediately on the factors that led to the raises.

But Kuakini spokeswoman Donda Spiker said, "With any union that we have, we respect their right to strike. ... For us, the salary increases were partly due to the fact that we need to remain competitive with local hospitals. ... We do have a responsibility to our patients and residents in the community. A lot of people depend on us for specialized care. We always have to keep in mind how we can continue providing high-quality patient care and be competitive with other hospitals."

In a statement, Bert Kido, vice president for human resources at The Queen's Health Systems, said, "We were very pleased to announce that The Queen's Medical Center and the Hawai'i Nurses Association reached an agreement, which was ratified, that provides our dedicated nurses with industry high wages and benefits, which gives The Queen's Medical Center the ability to continue delivering the highest quality patient care."

Each hospital had its own issues during talks, said Thomas Bacon, an organizer with United American Nurses, an affiliate of the Hawaii Nurses Association.

But in general, Bacon said, "The last time, union leaders didn't take advantage of the fact they were bargaining for a strategic industry, one that involves a high skill level combined with the worldwide nursing shortage."

This time, Bacon said, nurses staged candle light vigils and rallies to bring their issues before the public — such as the staffing ratios of nurses to patients.

In 2000, Hawai'i was short 1,041 registered nurses, according to a nursing shortage task force. By 2010, Hawai'i is expected to be short 2,267 registered nurses.

At the same time, nearly 80 percent of Hawai'i's current registered nurses are expected to retire by 2026, the task force said.

"There weren't real big issues this year on the table," Cadiz said. "But I certainly think the shortage played a big part. Hawai'i is home to many of the nurses and we want to stay here. We think the emloyers want them to stay here as well."

Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com.