CRONA, Stanford and Packard Children's Hospital sign new contracts for nursing programs

Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital announced today that they have reached new contract agreements with the Committee for Recognition of Nursing Achievement (CRONA), the union which represents 2,700 of the hospitals' nurses.

The majority of CRONA represented nurses voted to ratify the new contract offers, composed of tentative agreements reached by both parties, on April 7, 2011.

"We are very pleased to have reached agreement on new contracts for our nurses," said Greg Souza, Vice President of Human Resources for Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. "The new contracts will result in a 4 percent retroactive pay raise for nurses—in addition to other wage increases—and will advance nursing practice and programs to provide our patients with the very best in patient care."

In addition to the retroactive 4 percent base pay increase going back to April 2010, other key components of the new contract agreements include an additional 4 percent base wage increase effective April 1, 2011, and modifications to the requirements of the new Professional Nurse Development Program, a new clinical ladder that the hospitals implemented on February 7, 2011. These modifications address eligibility requirements for nurses with 20 or more years of service as an RN at the hospitals, and enhance their ability to achieve a higher nurse classification as part of the new professional development program.

"We wish to thank our CRONA represented nurses and CRONA leadership for their part in reaching this agreement," said Dale Spartz, Vice President of Human Resources for Stanford Hospital & Clinics. "We firmly believe that these provisions reflect the high regard we have for our nursing staff and our commitment to nursing excellence," added Spartz.

The new contracts replace the provisions that the hospitals implemented after both sides reached impasse on Feb. 7 of this year. It will remain in place until it expires on March 31, 2013.