Mills-Peninsula RNs Win Breakthrough Sutter Contract, California Nurses Association

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 20 Aug 2008 - 13:00 PDT

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Ending a 15 month-long contract fight which included three strikes, registered nurses at Sutter Mills Peninsula Health Services in San Mateo and Burlingame reached a precedent-setting tentative agreement after meeting with a federal mediator late Friday afternoon, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee announced recently.

Agreements were reached on pivotal patient protection issues, including providing designated RNs for meal and break relief, safe lifting policies to prevent patient falls and RN back injuries, as well as pension enhancements.

The tentative pact is being recommended by the CNA RN bargaining team and will be voted on by MPHS RNs in upcoming membership meetings.

"This is a historic agreement that will help us to recruit and retain experienced RNs to our hospitals," said Sharon Tobin, a MPHS RN and member of the CNA bargaining team. "Meal and break relief RNs will mean our patients will be taken care of safely and within the requirement of existing state law, and nurses will finally be able to take needed rest and meal breaks."

"This settlement is a demonstration of the unity and commitment of Sutter RNs throughout Northern California to win provisions in our contracts that will enhance our ability to provide safe quality care to our patients and our communities," said Genel Morgan, a MPHS intensive care unit RN and a member of the CNA nurse negotiating team. "RNs will also get assistance with patient handling from trained personnel, which will help both patients and nurses."

Negotiations with other Sutter facilities are scheduled over the next few weeks, including:

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center - Aug. 19

Marin General Hospital - Aug. 20
Delta Medical Center - Aug. 26,
Santa Rosa Medical Center - Sept. 5
Eden/San Leandro Medical Centers - Sept. 12.

Negotiations are expected also be scheduled for Novato Community Hospital and Sutter Solano Medical Center.

"California Pacific Medical Center/St. Luke's Hospital appears to be going in the opposite direction with their most recent regressive proposal on healthcare," said CNA Sutter Division director Bonnie Castillo, RN. "The last bargaining session we had with them was on July 31st. We were hopeful that given the positive outcome of the blue ribbon panel findings to maintain St. Luke's as a full-service acute-care hospital and management stating they looked forward to a new relationship, that the bargaining session would be more positive. Instead they put forward a proposal which does not provide RNs healthcare security, but rather allows management to make unilateral changes at any time. This is on the heels of an arbitration ruling against Sutter for raising co-payments and drug costs mid-contract, and requiring that CPMC must repay the RNs, and CPMC continues to refuse to comply." A hearing is scheduled with an arbitrator on Sept. 15

Key provisions of the MPHS contract include:

Meal and rest period safe staffing:

Nursing matrices to be reviewed by a staffing committee. Provisions regarding meal and break periods, with matrices that reflect charge RNs out of the count, break relief, and ancillary staff. The matrices will provide for the number of RNs based on patient acuity and ratios. This is now part of the collective bargaining agreement and is subject to arbitration.

Safe patient handling program:

Incorporates RNs' professional judgment and clinical assessment, ergonomic training in safe lifting techniques for all RNs and ancillary personnel, specific trained safe handling personnel, which may include RNs, and sufficient safe lifting equipment on each unit. Pension enhancement:

Significant retirement enhancements through new 403b options. $3000 or $1500 one-time contributions to a 403(b) plan for benefitted RNs with 20 years of service, and five years of service, respectively. Additionally, up to a $300 match, at a 50 percent rate, each year.

Salary improvements:

13.5 percent increase during the first 10 months of the agreement and 17.5 percent over approximately three years.

7 percent across-the-board increase upon ratification with additional:

Jan. 1, 2009 2%
July 1, 2009 4.5 %
July 1, 2010 4%

Previous tentative agreements include:

- Language to protect CNA-represented RNs/NPs right to union representation

- Increased paid hours for RNs on CNA contract professional practice committee which monitors and documents unsafe practices in the hospital.

- Guaranteed resource RN positions to assist in troubleshooting covering 10 hours/day, seven days/week

- Inclusion of CNA pilot RN Mentor mentoring program

- Release time and access to paid time off for CNA's disaster relief program, the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN)

- Added new departments where only RNs would be hired into new licensed nurse positions to assure patient safety

- Increases in per diem rates, and differentials for shift, charge nurse, relief charge nurse and preceptors.

Over 4,000 CNA RNs at 10 Sutter hospitals have been in bargaining. These include: St. Luke's Hospital and California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, San Leandro Hospital, Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center in Berkeley and Oakland, Mills-Peninsula Health Services in Burlingame and San Mateo, Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, Sutter Delta in Antioch, and Sutter Solano in Vallejo.

California Nurses Association