Nurses at Sutter hospitals in Placer County approve contracts

Registered nurses at Sutter hospitals in Roseville and Auburn voted this week to approve new contracts.

The agreements cover 1,000 registered nurses at Sutter Roseville Medical Center and 340 at Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital.

Negotiations had been under way since June 2014, said Joanna Jung, Sutter collective bargaining director for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United. Nurses at the Sutter Auburn Faith approved their new contract agreement Monday and nurses at the Roseville medical center approved their contract Tuesday.

Andrea Seils, a nurse who served on the Sutter Roseville negotiating team, said the agreement was reached after hospital management dropped or deferred to a professional performance committee proposed staffing changes that the nurses had argued would adversely affect patient care.

Nurses at both hospitals staged a one-day strike in April over staffing reductions and contract proposals they said would cut their health care coverage.

The Roseville agreement includes wage increases of 16.5 percent for all the RNs for the next four years; additional increases for nurses who work per diem – without health coverage – and on night shifts; improvement in dental, vision and long-term disability benefits; and agreement to increase nurse participation in the hospital’s emergency preparedness committee. The hospital also agreed to withdraw outstanding demands for significant cuts in the nurses’ health coverage, according to a news release from the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.

Seils said nurses at Auburn Faith received a 16 percent wage increase and additional insurance benefits.

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 6:01 PM with the headline "Nurses at Sutter hospitals in Placer County approve contracts."