Quick Take
Following months of tense negotiations for a new contract, Watsonville Community Hospital and its nurses reached a tentative deal that includes a 10% pay hike and more part-time positions. The Pajaro Valley Health Care District board will vote this week to ratify it.
Following months of tense negotiations for a new contract, Watsonville Community Hospital and its nurses reached a tentative agreement that includes an increase in part-time positions and a 10% wage increase over a three-year period.
The hospital’s approximately 250 nurses, represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United, voted Saturday to ratify the new three-year contract. Although an exact date hasn’t been set yet, the Pajaro Valley Health Care District Hospital Corporation board will vote this week on its ratification. If approved, the contract will go into effect immediately and will expire in December 2026.
As part of the new contract, the nurses say the hospital guaranteed that 20% of staff positions will be reserved as part-time positions. One of the major disagreements between the nurses union and the hospital negotiating teams was the number of part-time and full-time positions. The nurses have been demanding a return of more part-time positions since September 2022, when the district board reduced the positions as a cost-saving measure when it took over the hospital.
However, to help offset the increased expenses from having more part-time nurses, the contract also includes an agreement on the nurses’ share of the cost of their employee health insurance premiums. Hospital spokesperson Nancy Gere said full-time nurses will pay 5% of the cost of their health insurance and part-time nurses will pay 7.5%, compared to the current range of 1.7 to 2.9% – based on family composition and full-time or part-time status.
In addition to more part-time positions, the nurses say the contract includes “precedent-setting infectious disease standards,” which includes a new infectious disease task force, and “safeguards against mandatory overtime” as well as “protections against outsourcing.”
Gere said the hospital already has high infectious disease standards and it’s not clear to her what the union means when referring to “safeguards against mandatory overtime” and “protections against outsourcing.”
Allyson Hauck, chief human resources officer, said in a media release that the wage increases will be paid out incrementally so the hospital can sustainably manage cash flow. “We are pleased to be able to offer wage increases to our nurses that keep them at the top of the market when compared to other area hospitals,” said Hauck.
Chief nursing officer Sherri Stout-Torres said in a release that the hospital “couldn’t be happier” to have come to a tentative agreement. “Our goal in the union negotiations was to provide competitive wages and benefits as well as flexibility to our nurses who work tirelessly on behalf of our patients, while at the same time ensure financial sustainability for the hospital, so it can be here to serve patients now and into the future.”
“We’re delighted that they ratified it,” district board chair John Friel told Lookout on Monday. “It’s great because it allows us to continue on without any interruption to patient care or any services that we offer. Our nurses are an integral part of our care team. And so we can’t do what we do without them.”
Special-procedures nurse Shanandrea Castro said the contract will help keep experienced nurses and improve the hospital’s infectious disease prevention efforts.
“After a tumultuous few years, we’re thrilled to have a strong contract that reflects the priorities of nurses and the needs of our community,” Castro said in a release.
The contract is the first collective bargaining agreement since Watsonville Community Hospital became a publicly owned health care center after it filed for bankruptcy in December 2021.
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