The State : Pact Rejected in Nurse Strike

Rejection of a proposed wage increase by a 2-1 vote kept striking nurses on picket lines for the 25th day at six major private hospitals in San Francisco. The hospitals functioned with the help of some nurses brought in from other cities and other replacements, but the range of care was restricted. Members of the California Nurses Assn. turned down a tentative settlement Friday night and a union spokeswoman, Maureen Anderson, said, “The vote says our nurses are not willing to settle for half a loaf.” The hospitals’ troubles began July 26 with a strike by 1,700 members of the Hospital and Health Care Workers Union. That dispute was settled, but the union’s vocational nurses and service workers remained off the job pending a nurses’ settlement. The rejected proposal offered a 20% wage increase over three years. But the nurses’ bargaining team was split on the proposal. “The offer was rejected because of money--there wasn’t enough of it,” said another union spokeswoman, Jesse Bostel.