Sharp HealthCare Nurses Call Off Strike, Resume Negotiations

SAN DIEGO COUNTY -- Significant movement by management during last minute negotiations has caused the union representing Sharp HealthCare nurses to call off a three-day labor strike that had been scheduled to begin at Sharp facilities on Nov. 28.

The Sharp Professional Nurses Network labor union, which represents the nurses announced the news the night of Nov. 27, just hours before the strike was to begin.

“Bargaining is about finding common ground, and tonight we found common ground on the issue of all nurses at Sharp being united as one voice to advocate for our patients, or union security as it’s known in contact language," said registered nurse Denise Duncan, President of UNAC/UHCP, of which the Sharp nurses union is an affiliate. "Sharp made some compromises and we made some compromises.”

The Sharp nurses have withdrawn their ten-day notice to strike and are expected to return to the bargaining table on Nov. 29 to continue negotiations with management.

“Nurse recruitment and retention remains the central issue in bargaining,” said registered nurse Christina Magnusen, President of the Sharp RNs’ union, Sharp Professional Nurses Network. “Over the past week, Sharp has made slight improvements in some of their proposals addressing nurse turnover. Sharp seems to now recognize the need to be in a better position to recruit nurses, and keep them once they’ve spent the money to train and orient them, so they will stay and make a career at Sharp. We remain hopeful that we can more fully tackle this crucial issue and complete the contract.”

Earlier this month, SPNN's members voted to reject management's latest contract offer and authorize the three-day strike in response to what the union has said is non-competitive wages and a resulting high turnover rate.

Sharp recently said that in a recent contract offer that nurses would get at least a 16 percent bump in pay over three years. But the union has countered that wages would still not reach the level of nurse salaries at other facilities around San Diego County.

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