Negotiations between nurses and hospital leaders at The Queen’s Health System are now underway for a new, three-year contract.

The Hawaii Nurses’ Association, which represents nearly 2,000 nurses at Queen’s, said it met at the bargaining table with hospital management Tuesday and Wednesday, with additional meetings scheduled for next week.

The talks begin as ongoing negotiations between HNA and Kapi‘olani Medical Center for Women &Children continue to stretch out beyond seven months.

HNA President Rose Agas-Yuu says the top issues among all union nurses statewide continue to be staffing shortages and safer nurse-to-patient ratios.

Like the nurses at Kapi‘olani, nurses at Queen’s are also feeling overburdened, she told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, and are concerned over how many patients a nurse handles in one shift.

“Being on the frontlines of patient care, we see the dangers every day,” she said in a statement. “We’re very concerned about patient safety and the quality of care being delivered. There are record number of patients at Queen’s and patients are overflowing into the hallways. Being responsible for the lives of so many patients on a shift is not sustainable for the nurses.”

She added, “It’s hard when nurses know we cannot give our best for our patients and constantly subject them to risks that can be prevented. We believe the hospital’s leaders can and must do better to perpetuate the mission of the Queen.”

Other issues the Queen’s nurses are concerned about, she said, are maintaining competitive benefits, dealing with workplace violence and parking challenges. She said some staff feel unsafe walking to distant parking lots after late-night shifts.

In the emergency room, she said, there have been staffing shortages, resulting in holds.

“I know the nurses there are working very hard and they’re feeling burned out,” she said. “Especially with the med-surge units, they’ve been encountering a lot of shortages because there’s just not enough staff.”

Negotiations with Queen’s have nevertheless gotten off to a smooth start, she said, with an exchange of proposals, and she is hopeful of a new contract soon.

“We believe Queen’s management recognizes the challenges and will approach the negotiations in a respectful, collaborative manner to reach an amicable agreement,” said Agas-Yuu. “We hope our negotiations with Queen’s moves along at a much faster pace and that we can reach an agreement before the current contract expires to avoid any disruption of care for our community.”

The Queen’s Medical Center is Hawaii’s first and only Level 1 Trauma Center, with one of the busiest emergency rooms on the island.

But the ER at The Queen’s Medical Center-West Oahu is also increasingly busy, particularly with the temporary closure of Wahiawa General Hospital’s emergency department.

Queen’s recently finalized its purchase of Wahiawa General, which will be renamed The Queen’s Medical Center-Wahiawa.

The nurses at Kapi‘olani have been in negotiations for a new contract since Sept. 13 and have been working without a contract since Dec. 1.

During a one-week strike in January, many Queen’s nurses showed up to picket in support of Kapi‘olani nurses.

A federal mediator has been involved in negotiations since February, but union members have taken to the streets with banners and demonstrations to show their frustration with the pace of talks and what they say is a lack of respect from hospital leaders.

Agas-Yuu said nurses across the state are watching to see what happens at Kapi‘olani, a Hawaii Pacific Health hospital, and that eyes are now turned on Queen’s as well.

“We are continuing to move forward,” she said of negotiations with Kapi‘o­lani. “There’s been small movement.”

She said HNA nurses statewide are looking ahead and planning for the future, improving workplaces so that future generations will remain in nursing in Hawaii.

“What we’re afraid of is that we’re going to be in a crisis, and we want to put things in place to try to help alleviate that so that we have a workforce,” she said.

Negotiations for nurses’ contract with Wilcox Medical Center on Kauai, which is run by HPH, also begin at the end of the month. HNA represents about 140 nurses at Wilcox.

The Queen’s nurses’ current contract expires June 30.

“Our negotiation team looks forward to working collaboratively with HNA to reach an agreement on a contract that respects our nurses and their profession, promotes superior patient care, provides competitive pay and benefits, and is sustainable for our organization,” said Queen’s in a statement.