HONOLULU -- At a time when other union members are facing pay cuts, furloughs and losing benefits, registered nurses at Queen’s Medical Center, Hawaii's largest hospital, approved a contract Monday night with three years’ worth of raises.

Leaders of the Hawaii Nurses’ Association, the union representing 1,200 registered nurses at Queen's, said its members "overwhelmingly ratified" the contract during two days of voting.

"It's a fair contract. Queen's, in this contract, did show that they absolutely care and value their nurses, and we've got great nurses at this hospital," said Joan Craft, the president of the union and an ICU nurse who has worked at Queen's for 15 years.

Hawaii Nurses' Association leaders declined to disclose the wage hike, but nurses familiar with the contract tell KITV 4 News it's a nine-percent raise over three years, with the biggest raise in the third year of the contract.

Salaries for full-time registered nurses at Queen's currently start at about $60,000 a year, nurses said.

"It was a fair raise. It keeps us up to pace, where we can maintain economic standards as far as supporting our families," said Sharon Chun, an intensive care unit nurse and seven-year employee at Queen's who's a member of the union’s negotiating committee.

The new contract, which takes effect December 1, leaves the nurses' defined-benefit pension plan unchanged, in spite of what nurses said were initial Queen's management attempts to alter the plan.

"I know the majority of people that I've spoken with, we feel very blessed that our pension is intact. It's a really big issue for us," said Ron Govina, an ICU nurse and 11-year Queens employee.

Craft, the union president, said, "The pension was our number one primary issue: that we keep the pension intact so our nurses can retire.”

Cindy Kamikawa, vice president of patient care at Queen's and chief nursing officer released a statement Tuesday night that said, "Our nurses are valuable members of our Queen’s ohana. The numerous contributions they make every day help Queen’s put our patients first as we continue to provide the best health care to the people of Hawaii for many years to come.”

The union said Queen's nurses will face a slight increase in health premiums the first year of the deal, but can pay less of their share of health benefit premiums if they participate in a wellness plan in the second and third years of the deal.

"We hope that our wage increase and us keeping our pension plan and the other things that we got in the contract will help with our other negotiations and even other groups that are negotiating contracts right now," Craft said.

Nurses and management at Kuakini Medical Center have not opened negotiations, choosing instead to keep the existing contract in force for an extra year.

Nurses who work for the state have been offered a five-percent wage cut.

One new benefit added to the new Queen's contract: the ability for nurses to return from maternity leave and work part-time for two months to help them transition away from their child and back to work after having a baby.

The union said that new perk will keep many skilled, experienced nurses from quitting to care for their young children.

Negotiators for the union and Queen's have met 13 times since Oct. 18, the union said, for the contract which expires Nov. 30.

The union represents about 4,000 nurses across the state and is now affiliated with the Office, Professional Employee International Union, local 50.