Registered Nurses at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center Approve Contract Agreement

Registered nurses at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, one of the largest private hospitals in California, on Tuesday voted 782-44 to approve a three-year contract after they held two one-day strikes this fall, the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 12/11). The contract agreement, reached on Sunday between hospital officials and representatives of the California Nurses Association, which represents the 1,300 nurses at the facility, will provide nurses with an average 21% wage increase over three years and will establish a system that bases nurse salaries on experience. The contract also will guarantee annual employer contributions of 4% to 9% of nurse salaries to a retirement plan and will refer unresolved disputes between nurses and the hospital over staff levels to arbitration (California Healthline, 12/9). The contract marks the first for nurses at Long Beach Memorial; negotiations began in February (Los Angeles Times, 12/11).