UC, (10,000) registered nurses agree to terms

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080318-9999-1b18nurses.html

Tentative deal has 6% pay raise for '08
By Keith Darcé
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

March 18, 2008

The University of California system and the state's largest nurses union have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract covering 10,000 registered nurses, UC and union officials said yesterday.

The deal affects nurses for 10 UC health care systems, including 1,500 at UCSD Medical Center's campuses in Hillcrest and La Jolla.

It includes a 6 percent raise this year for nurses working at hospitals in San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Davis. It also contains provisions for negotiating pay increases for 2009 and 2010.

The contract, which will be voted on this week by UC members of the California Nurses Association, provides additional salary increases for the most experienced nurses at UCSD and UC Irvine. It brings seniority pay scales at those campuses in line with ones at the other UC hospitals, said Geri Jenkins, a nurse at the UCSD hospital in Hillcrest and a union leader.

University and union negotiators began talks on the new contract in April 2007; the previous contract expired about six months later.

The tentative agreement came as a mediation period was about to expire.

[SharonAnn]

1. That's a good start for the nurses. Still, much remains to be done.