County Supervisors Approve Nurse Labor Contract

More than a month after Contra Costa County nurses stated their case in a raucous Board of Supervisors meeting, supervisors approved a labor contract believed to be favorable to the nurses on Tuesday.

California Nurses Association officials announced on Nov. 9 that the union’s membership ratified a labor agreement reached with the county a week earlier, and the agreement just needed the supervisors’ approval on Tuesday.

The contract marks an end to a bargaining period that lasted 15 months, during which county nurses participated in a two-day walkout that began on Oct. 6, when the nurses packed a supervisors meeting, arguing that the county was losing nurses to higher-paying private sector work.

Union officials have referred to the agreement as favorable. It includes a 16 percent wage increase, protections for benefits and assurances that there will be no mandatory overtime.

The contract will last until the beginning of 2018.

--Bay City News Service, photo via Shutterstock