Nurses won agreements that should prevent them from working mandatory overtime during peak seasons. A three-year contract was approved April 14 by 89 percent of approximately 210 nurses who work at the hospital. Terms of the new contract are retroactive to April 1. They call for an immediate base wage increase of 5.5 percent, followed by another 5 percent next April and again in April 2003. The agreement allows the union to open negotiations again next year if the wage increase doesn't seem adequate, Bermudez said.
Hospitals get more patients in some months than others.
In a pilot program last winter, nurses were flexed in order to save money. Sarah Krevans, executive vice president for Sutter's Eastern Division, told the Business Journal last week that this was one of many cost-cutting moves that contributed to a big local financial turnaround. The new contract at Sutter Auburn Faith allows nurses who sign up to work during peak times to collect a bonus incentive of extra paid time off. While mandatory overtime has not been used at Auburn Faith, it remains a concern to nurses. The new bonus incentive helped to reassure them that mandatory overtime won't be required, Bermudez said.