Nurses, two Sutter hospitals have tentative pact

After 15 months of negotiations and three strikes, union-represented registered nurses and two California hospitals affiliated with Sutter Health have reached tentative agreements on new contracts. Nurses at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and Marin General Hospital will now vote on whether to ratify the accord, which their negotiating teams have recommended. The nurses did not get a master contract with all Sutter Health affiliates, which was their priority. But they said the tentative agreement was reached on "pivotal patient protections issues."