Nurses at San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare have notified the hospital of their plans to strike Nov. 28, according to a CW6 report.
The announcement comes one week after nurses voted to reject the health system's latest contract offer and authorize a potential strike.
The nurses are represented by the Sharp Professional Nurses Network, an affiliate of the United Nurses Associations of California/Union of Health Care Professionals. According to the union, 98 percent of 2,203 nurses who cast ballots voted to authorize a strike.
The nurses said they intend to return to work Dec. 1, according to the report.
The walkout would affect seven hospitals in San Diego County, but Sharp is prepared to use qualified, replacement nurses if their employees strike, reports CW6.
A key sticking point in negotiations between Sharp and the nurses is pay.
The Sharp nurses contend large wage increases are needed to prevent their colleagues from moving to other hospitals for better pay, according to a Times of San Diego report. Sharp, for its part, has maintained that the health system's 2015 nurse turnover rates are lower than San Diego, Southern California and state turnover averages.
Nurses have asked for a 31 percent pay raise over the term of the next contract, while Sharp is offering a 16 to 26 percent pay raise over the contract term. The system’s proposed raise would be based on a nurses' experience, advancement and academic degree earned, Sharp officials have said.
Sharp managers said they still hope to avoid a nurse strike before Nov. 28, according to CW6.
"We are disappointed that the union has chosen to put our patients in the center of our contract disagreement by choosing to walk out of our hospitals," Dan Gross, executive vice president of Sharp Healthcare, said in the CW6 report. "At this time, caring for our patients is our top priority and we have taken the necessary steps to ensure we will have adequate staffing levels with excellent nurses at all times during their walkout."
Sharp has contracted with an agency that provides specially trained replacement nurses, reports CW6. The agency's nurses, per their contract with Sharp, would have to work at Sharp for at least five days, meaning nurses who plan to participate in the strike will be replaced for that length of time.