Registered Nurses and Supervising Nurses Bargaining Units Reach a Landmark Agreement Prioritizing Patient Safety and the Retention and Recruitment of LA County Nurses; Nurses’ Bargaining Units Set to Join Twenty-Six Other Bargaining Units for Agreement Ratification
LOS ANGELES— Almost 7,000 LA County Nurses represented by SEIU 721 reached an 11th hour landmark tentative agreement with LA County that includes stronger job protections in County hospitals and healthcare facilities, and locks in competitive compensation to retain the County’s Nurses.
The tentative agreement arrives on the heels of SEIU 721 represented Nurses sending the County an advanced notice of their intention to launch a 3-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike on June 1st. The strike was set to impact Department of Health Services (DHS), the Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Department of Mental Health (DMH), in facilities throughout the County.
Just weeks ago, in the lead up to a flurry of around-the-clock contract negotiations, SEIU 721 members across all Bargaining Units authorized a ULP strike with 98% approval.
The Nurses will now join other represented SEIU 721 represented LA County workers to vote on whether to ratify the Tentative Agreement, with a pending start date in early June.
“Our LA County Nurses have made incredible sacrifices on the frontline, so we drove a hard bargain,” said David Green, SEIU 721 President. “This is why it was so important to us to negotiate not just for better compensation but for a real plan that addresses nurse retention. COVID impacted our ranks, which were already being hit hard by years of underfunding for public healthcare. Now, we’ve got a commitment to address this problem and we’ve got the power of our union to make sure the plan materializes.”