Registered nurses from Dignity Health hospitals in Southern California have called off a 10-day strike after reaching a contract agreement with their employer, according to the union that represents them.
The tentative agreement covers more than 1,300 nurses at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, Calif., Northridge (Calif.) Hospital Medical Center and St. John's Pleasant Valley Hospital in Camarillo, Calif.
It addresses workplace and patient care issues, including increased hospital security and preventing the shifting of nursing to work in hospital departments they have not been trained for, the Service Employees International Union Local 121RN stated in a news release.
Union leaders said the agreement also ensures that the nurse responsible for handling incoming ambulances does not have a patient load at the same time.
"Our nurses were unified and ready to walk out and onto the strike line, right up until the last moment over these life-or-death issues," said union President Gayle Batiste, RN, an operating room nurse at Northridge Hospital Medical Center. "These improvements will help us maintain safe, secure hospitals where nurses can work without fear so that our patients can heal."
Nurses and hospital management reached the agreement after five months of negotiations. Earlier this month, the nurses announced plans to strike for 10 days beginning Aug. 30, unless a contract agreement was reached.
Editor's note: Becker's has reached out to Dignity and will post more details as they come in.