St. Rose Hospital nurses ratify new contract
HAYWARD -- Nurses at St. Rose Hospital in Hayward have voted to ratify a new four-year contract after reaching a tentative agreement with management last week.
The new contract includes protections to improve patient safety and nurse retention, according to an announcement from California Nurses Association/National Nurses United.
Some of the terms include workplace violence prevention improvements, wage increases and improved health care benefits, union officials said Monday.
"With our new contract, St. Rose nurses can improve our advocacy to address staffing concerns," said Dianne Kubota, a registered nurse in the medical/surgical-telemetry unit. "We also won affordable health care for our families and ourselves."
The union represents more than 200 nurses at St. Rose Hospital. They were set to strike May 2 and 3, but they called it off the day before because of the new deal.
The hospital is happy to have "to have reached an agreement with the California Nurses Association on a new contract with its dedicated nursing staff," a St. Rose spokesperson said.
"Like many hospitals across the state of California, St. Rose is facing challenging times and it is working with all stakeholders, including various federal, state, county, and local elected officials to address the challenges facing healthcare today," according to the spokesperson.
