Taking Care of our Caregivers

Alta Bates Summit Medical Center

About Our Contract with the Nurses Union at Alta Bates Summit

It is unfortunate the ABSMC RN union bargaining team rejected our last, best and final offer.

The offer in front of ABSMC nurses is incredibly fair and market competitive, so much so that 16 other CNA-represented hospitals accepted similar contracts. At Sutter Health, we believe maintaining a supported, engaged workforce is essential to providing compassionate, affordable and safe care for our patients. That’s why we are dedicated to the engagement and wellbeing of our employees.

Every other Sutter Health-affiliated hospital with California Nurses Association-represented members, 16 in total, approved their contracts weeks ago. Yet, Alta Bates Summit continues to be the outlier.

You can read our final offer to our nurses here.

Our current offer to Alta Bates Summit nurses includes:

Across-the-Board Raises:

A minimum 22.4% pay increase over 4 years (average of 5.6% per year) in addition to any applicable step increases. The offer also includes placement in an improved base pay wage grid, increases to the differentials and many other special pay rates provided by the existing contract.

Continued employer-paid health coverage for nurses and their families

Enhanced Workplace Violence Prevention Measures:

Comprehensive workplace violence prevention plans/measures that reflect Alta Bates Summit’s longstanding commitment to protecting staff and patients. The offer includes new extensive language that commits to incorporate the use of proven systems and technologies designed to deter, report and act against threats .

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

Paid time for nurse participation in diversity, equity and inclusion council that promotes initiatives aimed at advancing equity and promoting diversity and inclusion in the Alta Bates Summit workforce.

Health and Safety:

Creates a management/union infectious disease task force to deal with a declared epidemic or pandemic, and provides clarity in maintaining necessary PPE.

The union demand for a 40% wage increase is well beyond their peers. Just look at other recent contracts across the region:

Kaiser Permanente

Kaiser Permanente ratified a contract earlier this month: 22.5% increase over four years

Stanford Medicine

Stanford Medicine nurses ratified a contract in May 2022: 17% increase over three years

UCSF

UCSF nurses ratified a contract in July 2022: 16% increase over three years

Meanwhile, Alta Bates Summit RN union bargaining team is demanding a nearly 40% wage increase resulting in a 9 day strike over the holidays, in the midst of a surge in respiratory illnesses

Sutter offers competitive nursing salaries:

Part-time ABSMC nurses earn an average annual pay of nearly $140,000. The average pay for full-time nurses at ABSMC is more than $188,000.*

In comparison, the average annual wage for California nurses in 2021 was $124,000 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics).

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The average pay for full-time nurses at ABSMC is more than $188,000.

* Calculated using average aggregate wages of part- and full-time CNA nurses at ABSMC who received pay for four consecutive quarters.