Nurses union approves contract (San Jose)

[struggle4progress]

By Barbara Feder Ostrov
Mercury News

Registered nurses at Valley Medical Center in San Jose voted Tuesday to approve a new three-year contract with Santa Clara County giving them a 20 percent raise over the next three years.

The nurses' union, the Registered Nurses Professional Association, also will be able to organize temporary nurses Santa Clara County hired to address a nursing shortage at its public hospital.

The agreement, expected to be approved by county supervisors at their meeting Tuesday, May 3 averts a strike the nurses had called for three weeks ago. The union represents more than 1,300 nurses at the hospital and county-run public health clinics.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/11513600.htm