UC, Nurses Announce Tentative Contract Agreement
University of California and California Nurses Association officials on Friday announced that they have reached a tentative agreement on a two-year contract, including a minimum 6% wage increase and maintaining current pension benefits, the Los Angeles Times reports (Los Angeles Times, 12/13).
The contract also would allow the use of binding arbitration in staffing disputes and allow nurses to have input on future pension changes. This is the first time pension issues have been included in a CNA contract (Skidmore, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/13).
Under the contract, CNA agreed to higher health insurance premiums for nurses and to abstain from participating in "sympathy strikes" with other unions during the term of the contract, the Sacramento Bee reports (Osterman, Sacramento Bee, 12/13).
The contract would expire in June 2007, but changes to retiree health benefits, pay for mandatory breaks, health insurance and wages for 2007 would be open for renegotiation in the spring (San Diego Union-Tribune, 12/13).
More than 9,000 UC nurses will vote on the contract beginning this week (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 12/13). The current contract expired April 30 but was extended three times (Sacramento Bee, 12/13).