400 nurses at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital approve new contract

Registered nurses at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital on Tuesday ratified a new contract that will provide a 16.5 percent pay increase over four years as well as additional staffing protections.

Ninety-five percent of the 400 nurses at the hospital approved the four-year contract, wrapping up negotiations that began after the last contract expired in June 2014.

“We’re pretty pleased with the outcome. … We didn’t get everything we wanted,” said Laura Hinerfeld, an intensive care unit nurse and a member of the local bargaining team represented by the California Nurses Association.

The contract also provides additional break relief for nurses on all units that are not adequately staffed, improved staffing to get additional care for sicker patients, and requirements that the hospital will meet the highest standards in equipment and training to combat infectious diseases such as Ebola.

Sutter also will end the practice of using unpaid interns in training when providing direct patient care.

Even though the nurses conducted a short strike in the spring, Hinerfeld said the negotiations were not as contentious as for the previous contract. She noted the change in tenor from hospital management in the aftermath of the successful move in the fall from its old location on Chanate Road to the almost $300 million facility next to the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts.

“We worked very hard to come into the new facility. The learning curve was steep,” Hinerfeld said.

Health insurance premiums will not change under the new contract, but members will face some increase in out-of-pocket expenses, she said.

Hospital officials could not be reached for comment on the contract.

The ratification followed a similar approval vote by 140 registered nurses at Sutter Lakeside Hospital in Lakeport on Dec. 30.

Those nurses received a 16 percent wage increase over four years and improvements in health insurance coverage and long-term disability benefits.

You can reach Staff Writer Bill Swindell at 521-5223 or bill.swindell@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @BillSwindell.