Mercy reaches tentative deal with nurses for wage hikes, H1N1 safeguards
The operator of Sacramento's Mercy hospitals has reached a tentative agreement on new contracts with more than 12,000 of its nurses in California and Nevada, giving them a substantial wage boost and beefed up protections against pandemics such as the H1N1 virus.
The pact, if approved by members of the California Nurses Association over the next week, would provide a 20 percent wage increase over four years at 28 hospitals run by Catholic Healthcare West, the state's largest nonprofit hospital chain.
About 2,200 nurses work for Catholic Healthcare West hospitals in the capital region.
The starting salary of a registered nurse in the chain's Sacramento-area hospitals will rise to nearly $43 an hour, with a top scale of $56 an hour during the first year of the contract and increase 5 percent each year, said Jill Furillo, the union's chief negotiator during the contract talks.
The tentative agreement was reached after marathon talks over the past week, culminating in handshakes late Friday night. Nurses have been working without a contract since July 1, when the previous contract expired.
Despite the substantial increase in pay, "money was secondary," Furillo said.
A key point of controversy arose in April when a novel strain of influenza became a major health concern. Nurses grew concerned about what they said was inadequate preparation by hospitals, including those operated by Catholic Healthcare West, to protect workers against the virus. Of particular concern was the supply of respiratory masks.
As part of the new pact, the hospital system agreed to procure an adequate supply of N95 masks so nurses won't have to reuse them. The agreement also would establish a task force, composed partly of nurses, to enforce safety standards at each facility.
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