Tentative Contract Avoids Nurse Walkout in California

The University of California reached a tentative contract agreement with unionized nurses at its medical and student-health facilities, averting a one-day walkout that had been scheduled for Wednesday.

The four-year agreement still needs to be voted on by the 11,700 UC nurses who belong to the California Nurses Assn., or CNA. Contract highlights released by UC call for annual 4% pay increases through 2017.

The nurses have agreed not to join in a one-day strike on Wednesday in sympathy with a walkout still scheduled by the AFSCME local 3299, which represents 22,000 patient-care workers, custodians and food workers at UC’s five medical centers and 10 campuses.