Sutter Health Hospitals, CNA Reach Tentative Agreements, Avert One-Day Strike
The California Nurses Association and Sutter Health have reached tentative labor agreements at several Bay Area hospitals, averting a possible one-day strike planned for Wednesday, the Contra Costa Times reports (Contra Costa Times, 7/15). Several nurses' contracts expired June 30, and others expired on July 5, according to CNA, which represents the nurses. Nurses at seven Sutter hospitals -- including Sutter Solano Medical Center in Vallejo, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, St. Luke's Hospital in San Francisco and Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, which has hospitals in Berkeley and Oakland -- in early July voted to authorize the strike (California Healthline, 7/5). Late Thursday night, negotiators from CNA and St. Luke's reached a tentative agreement in which the nurses would receive a 21% pay increase over three years. St. Luke's 236 nurses are scheduled to vote tomorrow on whether to approve the agreement (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/15). CNA negotiators came to terms with Sutter Health Friday night on tentative agreements with Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and Sutter Solano Medical Center, according to CNA spokesperson Charles Idelson. The 120 nurses at Sutter Solano will vote tomorrow on the tentative agreement. Nurses at Alta Bates will vote on Wednesday. If nurses from any of the hospitals reject the agreement, another strike will be planned, Idelson said. To date, only the 450 nurses at Mills-Peninsula Hospital have approved their new contract. Nurses at Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley have yet to reach an agreement and may still strike on Wednesday if negotiators do not reach a compromise, Idelson said (Contra Costa Times, 7/15).
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