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C A L I F O R N I A N U R S E J A N U A R Y / F E B R U A R Y 2 0 0 6 7 A fter nearly a year of bargaining and constantly teetering on the edge of a strike, about 9,000 RNs approved in December a new two-year contract with the University of Cali- fornia that the negotiating team said included some breakthrough deals on resolving staffing disputes, protections for pension and retiree health bene- fits, and being forced to work over- time. The RNs credited their willingness to go on strike and the recent victory against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's agenda, with which UC had closely aligned itself, as the main reasons UC backed down after the protracted ne- gotiations. "This is the best CNA, UC contract we've achieved in 20 years," said Em- manuel Punzalan, a UCLA RN on the nurse negotiating team. A major victory with this contract is UC's agreement to leave pensions un- touched for the duration of the deal, and to leave retiree health benefits un- touched through the end of 2006. Like General Motors, United Airlines, and other large corporations that want to renege on promises they've made to their employees of pensions and retiree benefits, UC has been pushing hard to wriggle out of its obligations to retirees. Schwarzenegger has proposed plans to convert all state worker pensions into 401(k) accounts that don't guarantee a defined benefit, and UC has already said it wants its employees to pay for their pensions. Another main feature of the new contract is that disputes over ratios, acuity, and staffing can be appealed to an outside arbitrator for final resolu- tion if problems can't be settled by the staff RN-led Professional Practice Committee and UC administration. For years, RNs at some UC medical campuses, such as UC Davis, have been frustrated by chronic short staffing. "We finally have real tools to help us," said Maureen Dugan, a UCSF RN and member of the nurse negoti- ating team. "The improved provisions for RN staffing will make UC hospitals a safer place for both patients and nurses." In addition to these provisions, the contract for the first time prohibits mandatory overtime for RNs unless in case of a true nationally-declared or on- site emergency, specifies a minimum 6 percent pay raise for UC RNs, and gives the PPC a say in any new technology that UC wants to deploy. The contract will expire June 30, 2007, and talks will reopen in March 2006 to decide the extension of retiree health benefits, second-year raises, and other issues. —Staff report RNs Finally Strike New Deal with UC