KAISER PERMANENTE: Negotiations Resume On Nursing Contract
Officials representing Kaiser Permanente and the California Nurses Association met yesterday "for the first time since November in hope of resolving a contentious dispute that has led to four short strikes in the past year," the San Jose Mercury News reports. The negotiations, which were urged by state Assemblyman Tom Torlakson (D-Martinez), came "on the heels" of last week's two-day strike of 54 Kaiser facilities in Northern California. Negotiators said no progress was made on the contentious issues, nor was the nurses' contract, which expired on January 30, renewed. At issue are "nurses' demands to play a larger role in patient-care decisions and Kaiser's attempts to institute a tiered pay scale and wage freezes." Lila Petersen, a Kaiser spokesperson, "said both sides started by trying to hammer out a deal not to talk about the negotiations with the media" (Puzzanghera, 2/5).
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