California Nurses Association, SEIU Reach Contracts With Hospitals, Avert Walk-outs
Catholic Healthcare West and the California Nurses Association have averted a possible nurses' strike by reaching a "tentative" contract agreement, the Sacramento Bee reports. Nurses at St. Mary's Medical Center and St. Francis Memorial in San Francisco, Dominican Hospital in Gilroy and Seton Medical Center in Daly City, will vote on the two-year deal Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Under the contract, nurses will receive a salary increase of 7.5% the first year and 4% the second. Also, nurses with five to 20 years of experience "will be eligible" for increased pay. Other provisions include a health care program for retirees and additional pay from $80 to $180 per shift for nurses who work overtime to "alleviate shortages." The Bee reports that negotiations between the union and CHW are continuing over "wages and conditions" at Woodland Healthcare in Sacramento (Ferraro, Sacramento Bee, 6/26).
After more than a year of "contentious negotiations," Service Employees International Union Local 250 and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center reached a contract on Monday, giving workers a 4% raise for each year of the deal. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that "staffing problems," not wages, were the "main issue." Under the new contract, a "neutral third party" will resolve staffing disputes. However, negotiations are continuing between the union and California Pacific Medical Center, Eden Medical Center, Sutter Solano Medical Center and Lakeside Hospital. John Borsos, hospital division director for the union, said, "It is our hope that the other Sutter hospitals will follow without it becoming necessary to take further action" (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 6/26).
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