After several months of negotiations, UC and the California Nurses Association reached a tentative agreement last Friday regarding a new three-year contract for UC's 8,000 nurses.

"We are very pleased that we were able to resolve the few remaining issues and reach an agreement that acknowledges the excellent work of our nurses," said Joseph Mullinix, UC senior vice president for business and finance. "This benefits everyone, especially patients."

On May 22, the university had presented the union with an offer designed to conclude negotiations. Among other things, it required that the union cancel its May 29 strike and drop its unfair practice charges. While preserving the university's ability to financially reward performance through lump-sum awards, the proposal also stipulated that UC would eliminate its use of merit pay for nurses, a key union issue.

The agreement, which is set for ratification June 3, parallels UC's prior offer. Specifically, the union agreed to cancel immediately the strike it had planned for May 29 and to modify its position on RN-only staffing ratios. Instead of contract language regarding ratios, the parties agreed to establish joint UC-CNA committees at each UC medical center to advise UC hospital management on the implementation of next year's nurse staffing ratios and the role registered nurses will play in meeting them.

The university agreed to eliminate merit pay for nurses, move them immediately to experience-based pay, and provide total wage increases averaging 19-25 percent over the next three years.

In addition, with the union's agreement to not strike and to drop unfair practice charges, the university agreed to withdraw its request for a temporary restraining order against the strike as well as drop its unfair labor charge against the union for calling a strike during bargaining.

Upon ratification, a complete copy of Friday's agreement will be available at: www.ucop.edu/humres/labor/nurse.html.