SFRNA Members Ratify New Contract

December 2014

St. Francis Nurses Overwhelmingly Approve New Three Year Collective Bargaining Agreement

On Tuesday, December 23, St. Francis Registered Nurses overwhelmingly voted to accept a new three year collective bargaining agreement with St. Francis Medical Center and the Daughters of Charity Health System (DCHS). The new three year agreement will be applicable to any new owner of St. Francis, once the sale transaction has been finalized.

The new St. Francis agreement is augmented by three Letters of Agreement (LOA) with Prime Healthcare - a most favored nation LOA protecting St. Francis nurses from Prime giving other nurses at former DCHS hospitals better wage improvements; a LOA providing a transition process to Prime health insurance; and a LOA committing Prime to fully protect the DCHS' church pension plan by immediately converting it to an ERISA compliant pension plan. The Prime LOAs will only become effective if Prime is approved by the Attorney General to take ownership of St. Francis.

The new agreement was the result of more than two months of intense bargaining. Your SFRNA negotiating team thanks all of the nurses who attended bargaining, lending your strong support to the effort.

UNAC/UHCP and SFRNA continue to oppose Prime's acquisition of St. Francis and the DCHS. Your ratification of this new agreement does not in any way alter our position that Prime is not the best potential owner of St. Francis, and that there are viable, alternative bidders still interested in completing a sale transaction.

To this end, we encourage all St. Francis nurses to attend the Attorney General's public hearing on January 5, 2015 and voice your concerns about the potential Prime ownership of St. Francis and the surrounding communities continued long-term access to the full spectrum St. Francis services. Here's when and where to attend:

Monday, January 5
10 am
Lynwood Bateman Hall
11331 Ernestine Avenue
Lynwood, CA 90262

Thanks for your continued support. If you have any questions about the new agreement or the Attorney General hearing, please contact a SFRNA officer or negotiating team member.