Nurses working for Sharp Healthcare reached a contract agreement with the healthcare provider just a few days shy of a three-day strike scheduled for the second week of July. The contract involves nurses from seven Sharp Hospitals, including the Cabrillo Skilled Nursing Center, 3475 Kenyon St.
The nurses ratified the contract Thursday, July 19, by a “very good majority,” said Corrinne Hollings, president of the Sharp Professional Nurses Network. Hollings said the union is not releasing the exact voting results.
“We got most of our goals accomplished, which was gratifying even though the price was difficult,” Hollings said.
As part of the contract, nurses will see a 16 percent increase in salary over the course of the three-year contract. The contract also gives additional benefits to employees, who have worked for Sharp for more than 20 years, she said.
The contract also creates a “dispute resolution committee.” The committee acts as a third-party mediator to resolve disputes over issues such as quality of care and lack of adequate medical supplies, she said.
The committee would be made up of healthcare professionals appointed by the union and Sharp Healthcare officials, she said.
Nurses also bargained for lower nurse-to-patient ratios, but Sharp continues to follow state law regarding nurse-to-patient ratios, said John Cihomsky, vice president of public relations for Sharp Healthcare.
The agreement between Sharp Healthcare and the nurses union came about three-days before the start of the strike scheduled for July 16. Sharp Healthcare prepared for the strike by contracting with Healthsource Global Staffing, a medical staffing agency specializing in travel-nurse staffing and strike-replacement staffing.
Cihomsky said Sharp was prepared to replace striking nurses for five days, although the nurses were only scheduled to strike for three.
Hollings said she was glad Sharp nurses didn’t have to strike.
“We never wanted to [strike],” she said. “We wanted to be with our patients. Otherwise we wouldn’t be nurses.”
Sharp Healthcare employs about 13,000 people, according to the Sharp website. Hollings said the Sharp Professional Nurses Network has about 3,400 members, about 1,600 of whom pay about $75 a month in dues.