Sharp Healthcare nurses will not strike Monday as anticipated. Instead, the union and administrators will return to the bargaining table Tuesday.
A three-day strike had been scheduled after negotiations between Sharp and the union stalled, according to Sharp Professional Nurses Network.
"I think it's promising and it's probably the right thing to do," Sharp nurse Bridget Garland tells NBC 7.
The union claims its nurses are overworked and underpaid and that nurses are often sent home due to cancelled shifts leading to high job turnover.
“Nurse recruitment and retention remains the central issue in bargaining,” said Christina Magnusen, RN, President of Sharp Professional Nurses Network (SPNN), the Sharp RNs’ union. “Over the past week, Sharp has made slight improvements in some of their proposals addressing nurse turnover. Sharp seems to now recognize the need to be in a better position to recruit nurses, and keep them once they’ve spent the money to train and orient them, so they will stay and make a career at Sharp. We remain hopeful that we can more fully tackle this crucial issue and complete the contract.”
“Bargaining is about finding common ground, and tonight we found common ground on the issue of all nurses at Sharp being united as one voice to advocate for our patients, or union security as it’s known in contact language. Sharp made some compromises and we made some compromises,” Denise Duncan, RN, President of UNAC/UHCP, of which the Sharp nurses union is an affiliate, said in a statement.
Negotiations fell through a few days ago when the union asked that all incoming nurses be required to join and pay dues.
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"I'm just really excited our union and Sharp, my employer for the last 23 years, have decided hopefully on something good, it sounds like it's something good," Veronica Kemp, a nurse at Sharp Chula Vista, tells NBC 7.
While the union and Sharp have not reached an agreement on a new collective bargaining contract, the parties will continue their negotiations.
Sharp put out a statement that reads in part:
"This is an excellent development for our patients, the San Diego community and our employees. We remain optimistic that Sharp and the union will succeed in reaching agreement on a new contract."
Current registered nurses who have chosen not to pay dues will continue to have the option to pay dues or not. The agreement calls for newly hired registered nurses to be dues-paying members within 30 days of their employment. Following 90 days of employment, newly hired nurses will have a five-day period in which to make a choice to continue paying dues or not.
There was also a tentative agreement that the union will not provide an additional strike notice prior to January 1, 2017.
Sharp and the union will meet on Tuesday to continue negotiation on the collective bargaining agreement.
