Longest strike by nurses is over
Contract approved in San Pablo, Pinole
The longest nurses' strike in California history has ended
after workers at two East Bay hospitals overwhelmingly
approved a new labor contract with the nation's
second-largest hospital chain.
Ninety-eight percent of union nurses at Doctors Medical
Center in San Pablo and Pinole voted to adopt the pact
Monday, halting a bitter 13-month walkout that saw many
nurses take jobs at other Bay Area hospitals.
Leaders of the
California Nurses Association said the agreement contains
major concessions from Tenet Healthcare Corp., most
significantly the first post-retirement benefit plan at any
of the chain's hospitals. Union officials promised to use
the contract as a blueprint in negotiations with Tenet at
its other Bay Area hospital in San Ramon.
"This is a
massive breakthrough in the Tenet system," said association
Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
About 450
registered nurses walked off the job on Nov. 4, 2002,
demanding a pension plan with guaranteed monthly payments
and health care for retirees. Tenet had been offering to
boost employee pay and increase the amount it matches worker
contributions to a 401(k) retirement plan from 3 to 5
percent.
Tenet
officials said Tuesday that they agreed to a limited post-
retirement plan that will not be offered at any of the
chain's 38 other California hospitals.
"This is sort of
a compromise and its specific to Doctors only and not for
Tenet as a whole," said hospital spokesman Michel Burleson.
Nurses union
spokesman Charles Idelson said he expects the vast majority
of the striking nurses will return to their jobs at Doctors
in the coming days and weeks.
For Carol Sims of
Oakland, a nurse at Doctors for more than 40 years, the
agreement means the end of an emotionally draining year.
"It's been a
long 13 months," said Sims, 61. "We're very pleased with the
fact that we stood strong."
While on
strike, Sims worked part time at Seton Medical Center in
Daly City and with the Mount Diablo school district. Because
both jobs were part time, she got no benefits. Zita Ibrahim
of Hercules, now a critical care nurse at Kaiser Hospital in
Oakland, is not sure whether she'll go back to Doctors.
Ibrahim, 48, said
she and other nurses were pulled "like magnets" to Kaiser
hospitals, which offer a full package of retirement
benefits.
"I have to really
make a very serious decision," said Ibrahim. "Kaiser has a
very good contract too, but I have 15 years seniority at
Doctors. I have to sit down and have a very serious study of
both contracts."
During the
standoff, Tenet spent up to $2 million a month in additional
costs to bring in replacement workers. It spent an estimated
$20 million in additional costs over a year.
The contract
provides an immediate 10 percent across the board pay
increase and an additional 20 percent over the next three
years.
Tenet will
provide guaranteed contributions of up to 8 percent of a
nurse's salary to an individual's retirement plan, depending
on an employee's length of service, union officials said.
Tenet will also
make annual contributions of one percent of a worker's pay
to a medical savings account establishing post-retirement
medical benefits.
Idelson said the
package puts Doctors on par with other Bay Area hospitals.
Burleson said
Tenet views the package as an addition to its existing
401(k) program and not a defined pension plan, which is more
costly and restrictive. He noted that the U.S. airline and
steel industries have been unable in recent years to meet
their obligation for defined benefit plans.
to meet
their obligation for defined benefit plans.
