Jul. 29—Potentially averting a labor strike, union workers at Kern Medical voted this week to accept a contract offer that now awaits approval next week by the hospital's directors.
Service Employees International Union Local 521 announced Friday morning that balloting by hundreds of workers during the previous three days showed overwhelmingly support for a compromise worked out last weekend as a potential walkout loomed.
The union says the offer would make needed investments in recruitment and retention while providing raises for all 1,600 nurses and other health-care workers at Kern Medical who have been without a labor contract since the last one expired Oct. 31, 2020.
It says full- and part-time employees would receive one-time bonuses, and registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants and others would get additional salary steps.
"Hundreds and hundreds of us voted to ratify a HISTORIC union contract that paves the way towards an equitable workplace and one where healthcare workers build careers," Eva Dominguez, Kern Medical MRI lead technologist and SEIU 521 negotiating team member, said in a news release.
"This agreement is an important step toward transforming Kern Medical into a workplace that invests in and retains healthcare workers and provides the best care," she added.
Kern Medical responded to news of the union voting result simply by saying that its operator, the Kern County Hospital Authority, will consider the agreement at a meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. Monday.
The hospital and union had agreed Kern Medical needed to improve its compensation levels after losing nurses and suffering heavily from a nationwide nursing shortage. But amid drawn-out negotiations they traded allegations — that the union was trying to alter an existing disciplinary process, and that KCHA was hiding financial information about a semi-independent surgery center on Stockdale Highway.
A strike had been set for this week but was postponed to Aug. 9-11 after an offer by the hospital last week.
Editor's note: This story was updated to include the hospital's statement.