Nurses approve contract: Registered nurses at Mills-Peninsula ratify four-year deal

The agreement provides across-the-board pay increases for all Mills-Peninsula registered nurses of at least 20 percent over the next four years, with additional pay based on years of service, that can bring the increases up to 25 percent, according to the California Nurses Association.

About 92 percent of the Sutter nurses voted in favor of the collective bargaining agreement.

“We fought tooth and nail to get this great contract. We were guided from start to finish by three priorities, based on the wishes of our fellow Mills-Peninsula nurses: Improve safe staffing through nurse retention; fight for fair health care benefits; and increase our access to time off for rest and relaxation. This overwhelming vote in favor of ratifying the agreement is a validation of our success,” Natalia Kamentseva, a nurse negotiator, wrote in a statement.

Sutter also agreed to end the practice of using unpaid “interns” in training in which they provide direct patient care without pay, according to the CNA.

“Wages were not at the center of negotiations,” CNA spokeswoman Joanne Jung said Wednesday. “We completely objected to the training programs.”

Sutter backed off many of its demands related to health care, Jung said.

Last April, the CNA argued that the nonprofit health care provider was offering the nurses self-insured Sutter plans that shifted too much cost onto the nurses leading up to a one-day strike.

The CNA argued that the out-of-pocket expenses for some nurses under a Sutter proposal would climb from about $85 annually to up to $5,000.

“Mills-Peninsula Health Services is very pleased that our nurses have voted to ratify the agreement and we have a new, four-year contract with the California Nurses Association. Now we can focus all our energy on doing what we do best: Delivering the highest quality health care to our community,” Janet Wagner, Mills-Peninsula Health Services chief executive officer, wrote in an email to the Daily Journal.

During negotiations, Sutter said nurses who work full time under a CNA contract earn about $140,000 a year with 40 paid days off and generous health care benefits.

But Jung said most nurses do not work full time at Sutter or any other provider.

“It’s not typical for a nurse to work full time. It’s exhaustive, physical work,” Jung said.

bill@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102