Thousands of nurses at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford (Calif.) and Stanford (Calif.) Health Care have voted to authorize their union's leadership to call a strike after failing to reach a deal in three days of mediation with hospital administrators over wages and benefits, according to a report from The Mercury News.
Almost 2,800 nurses, represented by the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, voted in favor of the measure. Only 49 nurses voted against the measure and 490 did not vote.
Colleen Borges, president of the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement, said in a statement that the union "has participated in good faith in mediation, and agreed to...[an] extended session in an effort to get a fair contract," according to the report. However, an agreement has not been reached, and the union is preparing to call a strike.
The CRONA would still have to issue a formal declaration of a strike and give hospitals 10 days notice before a walkout would occur.
In the meantime, Ms. Borges, a registered nurse at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford, said the union is confident that the nurses will be able to reach an agreement with the hospitals that aligns with the union's goals of higher wages and better benefits, according to The Mercury News.
Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford expressed similar sentiments in a statement.
"The hospitals remain committed to reaching a mutually acceptable agreement and we stand ready to go back to the table to bargain collaboratively and in good faith to completion," the hospitals said.
The nurses entered into contract negotiations with the hospitals Feb. 2., and the two sides are slated to return to the bargaining table Monday.
If a strike occurs, it would be the first time nurses at Stanford Health Care and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford have walked off the job since June 2000. That strike lasted 50 days.
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