Nurses, Oakland Hospital Agree to 2-Year Contract

OAKLAND — More than 300 nurses returned to work Friday, ending their 16-day strike at Providence Hospital.

On Thursday they approved a new two-year contract that includes sizable across-the-board pay increases and additional raises for some nurses.

Under the new contract, nurses are to receive a 4% raise retroactive to last July 1, followed by a 2% increase on Jan. 1, 1988, and a 4% raise in July, 1988. The hospital also agreed to an additional 2% wage increase for nurses who have worked at Providence at least 10 years, and special raises for night-shift nurses and nursing supervisors.

But the nurses lost the coverage previously provided to them to pay for abortions and sterilizations.

Providence spokeswoman Linda Trowbridge said the Catholic hospital ended the abortion and sterilization benefits in keeping with its religious precepts. “It is a philosophical issue. It is not a financial issue,” she said.

“It’s going to be a very difficult agreement to implement financially,” Trowbridge said of the contract. She said the hospital will have to make significant changes in its operations to pay the higher salaries, but she declined to say what those changes would entail.

The union initially sought a 14% pay raise and other benefits. The nurses’ annual salaries before the new contract ranged from $25,000 to $34,000.