SPNN Bargaining Update: January 23, 2025

The votes have been counted and we have approved our new contract.

We fought hard and took unprecedented actions, including our first strike ever. We made gains on our most important issues, including wages that reward all levels of experience, ESI, and retiree medical benefits. We had to make hard choices, and we can be proud of what we accomplished together in solidarity.

SPNN Bargaining Update: December 23, 2025

Watch the SPNN Bargaining Update!

As this year comes to a close, we thank you for your dedication, solidarity, and strength. Our unity and resolve are our greatest strengths, and only by standing together will we protect patient care and secure the fair contract we deserve. We wish you and your loved ones a joyful holiday season and a healthy, hopeful New Year.

Our next meeting with management is scheduled for January 8, 2026 and January 14, 2026.

Join Virtual Office Hours (VOH)

Join us on Friday, December 26, 2025 at 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Join using this Zoom link.
During VOH, our bargaining team and contract negotiators will answer your questions and provide bargaining updates, proposal summaries, contract education, and bargaining basics.

Candlelight Vigil and Rally Report Back

On Monday, December 22, 2025, over 100 SPNN registered nurses and Sharp Chula Vista health care professionals gathered at Sharp Spectrum to shine a light on patient care. Read this powerful press piece about the vigil and rally: Sharp nurses hold vigil for fair contract, patient care (Fox 5 KUSI News)

SPNN Bargaining Update: November 19, 2025

The strike is on.

After two straight days at the table, it is clear that Sharp is unwilling to make any meaningful movement. Management gave us its “last, best, and final” economic proposal yesterday and refused to consider the proposals we have given since. We’re fed up with misleading and false information in Sharp’s communications, we’re fed up with the bullying, and we’re tired of not being respected as front-line patient advocates.

Management is undervaluing our work, disrespecting our experience, and trying to undermine our union. We see no other option but to go out on strike.

Outstanding issues:

Patient Safety: We are patient advocates. Everything we do is to protect our patients, and every aspect of our contract involves patient care. For management to say that we’re not fighting for patient care is obtuse. Our patients’ healing conditions are our working conditions.

Wages: Sharp’s banded wage scheme devalues our work and creates a two-tier wage structure that divides Sharp nurses now and in the future, and would have the overall effect of depressing nurses’ wages throughout San Diego County. Nurses have rejected it, but management refuses to budge. It would weaken our ability to recruit and retain the best nurses at Sharp.

ESI and Retiree Health: The health and well-being of RNs and our families are at stake. We must be able to care for ourselves to care for our patients. RNs give everything for decades, dedicating ourselves to caring for Sharp patients, but Sharp illegally removed our retiree medical benefits, and refuses to give anything in return.

This strike is about protecting our profession, our patients, and our future.

We deserve fair wages. We deserve respect. We deserve a real voice in the care we provide.

Stay strong, stay united, and stay in communication. We’re in this together—and we are not backing down.

SPNN Video Bargaining Update: November 18, 2025

Click to watch the video bargaining update from SPNN members Danielle Begley, RN; Peggy Bowman, RN; Jonathan Argento, RN; and Nieysha Richard, RN.   

SPNN Bargaining Update: November 13, 2025

STRIKE NOVEMBER 26-29

Our SPNN and SCV Pro bargaining team delivered a 10-day notice of our intent to strike to the Sharp HealthCare management team today. Members voted overwhelmingly to authorize our team to deliver a notice to strike if we deemed it necessary. The time has come for this next step in the interest of settling the contract. The strike will take place at Sharp locations across San Diego, from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29.

In total, nearly 5,800 health care workers in the Sharp Professional Nurses Network and Sharp Chula Vista Pros will walk out together. Over the next 12 days, it is the intent of our negotiating teams to continue bargaining hard with management to resolve the outstanding issues.

We have power in unity. During the time leading up to the strike you’ll receive updates via email and social media. Also, please check out the SPNN HQ website for exact strike times, locations and other information. Our power right now is in staying united. We anticipate management’s effort to communicate with the membership will go into overdrive. In the coming days, your managers will ask you about your plans. The best answer is, “Yes, I’m ready to strike.”

Keep an eye on your email inbox for additional information coming your way soon.

SPNN VBargaining Update: November 5, 2025

Click to watch the video bargaining update from SPNN chief negotiator Pamela Chandran and officers Hayley Kellas, Danielle Miles, and Fran Sanford. 

Today, we gave management a package proposal containing wages, ESI, union membership, discipline, and other proposals.

💵 For wages, we heard from RNs, loud and clear, and rejected the banded wage structure and lump sums in favor of building on our wage grid of step increases year over year.

We proposed that everyone get:

7% plus $1.25 in Year 1;
5% plus $1.00 in Year 2;
5% plus $1.00 in Year 3;
and 4% plus $1.00 in Year 4.

🤧 We proposed 96 hours of ESI front-loaded for full-time and part-time employees, and 48 hours of ESI front-loaded plus the 1:30 accrual for per diems, up to a maximum of 96 hours a year. ESI would roll-over year to year in our proposal.

We informed management that we were cancelling the contract extension effective midnight on Wednesday, November 5. This means that we are working without a contract, and that we can give management a 10-day notice of intent to strike, if that is what the bargaining team calls for based on the outcome of the strike vote.

📆 We agreed to two additional bargaining dates next week on November 12 and 13. While we prepare for a strike if need be, our goal is always to get the best contract possible with our power, strength, and unity.

🎞️ Watch the video bargaining update for more detail.

SPNN Video Bargaining Update: October 30, 2025

Click to watch the video bargaining update from SPNN officers Paul Kelly, Drea Muir, and Alana Lawler.

SPNN Bargaining Update: October 24, 2025

We made movement where we could, but today in bargaining, we held the line on our most important proposals:

1. ESI: 48 hours front-loaded plus the current accrual, with no punishment in the form of occurrences for staying out sick without hours in the bank
2. First year wages: Raises 7.3% – 17.1%
3. Retiree medical benefits

Bargaining team members Rob Delgado and Alana Lawler spoke passionately about the need for retiree medical benefits, demanding recognition that we, as nurses, put our bodies on the line in a way that executives cannot understand.

Management said they were “disheartened” at what they perceived as insignificant movement in our economic proposal, even though they have not budged on their first-year wage grid. We called them out on their short-sighted insistence that Sharp’s wages remain the caboose, falling farther and farther behind the San Diego market—even as the new report from the NCSBN forecasts that by 2033, 40% of RNs will leave the profession.

SPNN Bargaining Update: October 23, 2025

After last week’s tremendous pickets, management’s economic counterproposal remains inadequate. We are continuing to bargain, and we are preparing to strike if necessary.

1. Wages: Management still clings to their same first-year wage bands, which will keep us in the basement of San Diego hospital wages. Management changed their proposal only to add that all nurses would receive a minimum 1% wage increase, and the remaining 2% in a lump sum proposal if movement onto the wage grid does not result in at least a 3% raise. Raises wouldn’t be effective until after ratification, and then they need an additional 60 days for some reason. Management proposed 3.5% after 10/1/26 and 3.25% after 10/1/27.
2. ESI: Management proposed 8 hours of ESI on 1/1/26 for full-time and part-time nurses, 4 hours of ESI on 1/1/27 for full-time and part-time nurses, and 0 hours on 1/1/28. Management said they would continue to give 1 hour of ESI earned for every 30 hours worked, but have rejected our proposal to put it in writing.
3. Retiree health benefits: Management is refusing to continue this program. It says both that not many nurses used it and that it would be far too costly to agree to our proposal to decrease retirees’ premium contributions.

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 30, 2025

We Choose Action!

We had a choice today to sit still for more disrespect or take action.

We chose action.

Today, we presented our economic package proposal that focused on ESI so we can care for ourselves and our families; retiree medical so that we are cared for as our care has made Sharp the hospital system of choice in San Diego; and wages that value the experienced nurses whose mentorship of new nurses is the bedrock of high-quality patient care.

After management let us know they would not have a response on economics today, a delegation of more than thirty nurses marched to management’s meeting room to deliver our ten-day notices of informational pickets. Each nurse who delivered a notice expressed their disappointment in Sharp’s proposals, disrespect of RNs, and email campaign of disinformation.

Our contract expires tonight at midnight and now it’s time to picket!

Informational Picket Details

Sharp Metro Campus
Wednesday, October 15
6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Sharp Grossmont
Thursday, October 16
6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

Sharp Chula Vista
Friday, October 17
6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.

More information to come.

Fill out this form to sign up for your picket shifts.

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 29, 2025

Last Day Tomorrow: Let’s Flood the Room in Blue

Our contract expires tomorrow at midnight. Join us.

San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Dr.
San Diego, CA 92108
Visitors welcome from 10 a.m.

Show up so management knows we care about a fair contract that respects our voice and invests in patient care.

Keep an eye on our social media tomorrow and keep in touch with your CAT members: we might negotiate up to midnight and beyond. Bring blankets and pillows and plan to hang out.

Bargaining News

In bargaining today, management withdrew its proposal to eliminate our local RNACs—due to the moving testimony of Sharp RNs at bargaining last week.

This is what it means to raise our voices.

When we stand together, we win.

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 26, 2025

Is Management Serious With This? 

Today in bargaining, management responded to our economic package with a proposal that suggests they’re not serious about getting a settlement before the contract expires.

Lowlights of their proposal:

• Same year one proposal that strands some nurses without a raise and discriminates against senior, experienced nurses
• In year two, they added a lump sum bonus for nurses who wouldn’t get a raise and increased their wage proposal by .25%
• Same with year three but no lump sum for nurses who don’t get a raise that year
• They proposed deleting the current retiree medical plan
• Their big change to ESI: front-loading 4 hours (1/3 of a shift) of sick time at the beginning of the year and allowing RNs to use PTO or unpaid time to cover a shortfall—but nurses will still get an occurrence if they don’t have enough ESI to cover the time off

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 18, 2025

Today, management presented their economic proposal and a financial presentation that selectively depicted certain numbers devoid of context, creating a distorted picture of how financially robust they actually are.

Low-lights:

• Wage rates lower than many current rates, especially for senior nurses
• Wages less than today’s scales at UCSD, Rady’s, and Kaiser–while UC and Kaiser are currently bargaining increases
• Deletes any retiree medical benefits whatsoever
• Fully rejected our proposed changes to ESI, instead preferring to keep complete unilateral control

Join virtual office hours for more detail (link above).

What’s Next: Get Ready to Picket

Yesterday, we delivered our petition with 3,000 signatures. We were all over San Diego TV and media.

Now, we must be ready to show Sharp that we are willing to do whatever it takes to win the contract we deserve—a contract that invests in our community and protects and respects health care workers.

Fill out this form and show your willingness to stand strong with your coworkers on an informational picket.

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 12, 2025

With fewer than three weeks until our contract expires, management still hasn’t given us an economic proposal after we gave them ours in August. Instead, management expressed shock and chastised us for how expensive they say our proposal is.

Our proposal would bring Sharp nurses up to community standard wages—and if it seems high to management, that’s because Sharp refuses to stay competitive in San Diego’s market.

We’re not asking to lead the market. We’re asking to be in it. Kaiser and UCSD are both currently bargaining for even higher raises, and Sharp seems comfortable letting its nurses fall even further behind.

Sharp says that they will try to bring their economic proposal and give a presentation about their finances on September 18. Join us to watch the show.

Bargaining: Thursday, 9/18
San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Dr.
San Diego, CA 92108
Visitors welcome from 10 a.m.

Sign the Petition

Sign our petition to show Sharp that SPNN nurses demand our worth.

Bed Placement Coordinators joined us at the bargaining table yesterday to ask that management respect their desire to join SPNN—they are not currently in the Union. They presented proof that over 90% of them want to join the Union!

We hope Sharp respects this request so that the Bed Placement Coordinators can be included in this contract.

SPNN Bargaining Update: September 11, 2025

Download This Flier

SPNN Bargaining Update #6: August 29, 2025

JOIN US FOR BARGAINING

Negotiations are open to all members. Guests welcome from 10 a.m.*

Support our bargaining team. Hear our proposals and management’s responses.

Next dates: Thursday, September 11 and Friday, September 12

Town and Country
500 Hotel Circle N, 92108
* Attendees must follow guidelines at SPNN HQ.

SPNN Bargaining Update #5: August 28, 2025

MAJOR ECONOMIC PROPOSALS TOMORROW – JOIN US!

CHANGES TO ESI PROPOSED TODAY

Highlights from today’s bargaining:

PTO/ESI: We proposed putting our PTO and ESI in the contract to prevent management from arbitrarily changing our benefits. We also proposed front-loading 60 hours of ESI at the beginning of the year and also accruing 1 hour for every 30 hours worked, and preventing management for disciplining us just for being sick and not having enough ESI.

Health & Dental: We proposed that our co-premium amounts won’t increase more than 5% a year.

Hours of Work: We proposed clarifying weekend language to prevent management from misreading it and proposed adding Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

Technology & AI: We invited management to collaborate with us on new contract language that addresses the potential impact of AI, and proposed guardrail language that protects our jobs and our nursing judgment, and ensures that we have a voice in any new AI developments at work.

JOIN US FOR BARGAINING

Negotiations are open to all members. Guests welcome from 10 a.m.*

Support our bargaining team. Hear our proposals and management’s responses.

Tomorrow: Friday, August 29 – We’re presenting major economic proposals!

San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Drive, 92108
* Attendees must follow guidelines at SPNN HQ.

SPNN Bargaining Update #4: August 21, 2025

Today’s bargaining highlights:

Article 25: Retiree Medical Benefits. This issue has been at the forefront of negotiations and—fundamentally—is a matter of respect for our senior nurses. We proposed that retirees pay only the equivalent of what they’re paying for insurance when they retire. Currently, retirees must pay the entire cost of the insurance premium (both the employer’s and the employee’s).

Article 5: Membership. It’s time for our membership language to reflect our full strength. We proposed making SPNN a true union shop by ensuring that everyone who’s fallen through the cracks become a member and gain the full rights and privileges of union membership, or otherwise comply with our contract. It’s about ensuring unity, solidarity, and strength for all of us together as a union to win the strongest contracts possible. Kudos to our SEIU siblings for winning this in their first contract!

Article 3: Rights of Management. We proposed shrinking this language to comply with the rights reserved to management under the law, and to prevent management from making “management’s rights” an excuse to avoid their contractual obligations.

Article 11: Seniority. We proposed making per diem seniority calculations reflect how per diems actually work.

We’re only weeks away from our contract expiration. With each session, we discuss more important issues. All members should attend every bargaining session so we can stand strong and united to win the best possible contract.

JOIN US FOR BARGAINING

Guests welcome from 10 a.m.

📆 August 28 – 29

📆 September 11 – 12 *

📆 September 18

📆 September 25 – 26

📆 September 30

San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Dr.
San Diego, CA 92108

* Location TBD

SPNN Bargaining Update #3: August 14, 2025

We completed our third bargaining session.

We reached tentative agreements (TAs) on continuing the current language for Articles 2, 6, 21, 22, and 29.

We presented proposals to maintain current language for Article 10: PROBATION AND EMPLOYEE EVALUATIONS, ARTICLE 26: ASSOCIATION LEAVE OF ABSENCE AND ACCESS RIGHTS and proposed improvements to Article12: JOB POSTINGS & FILLING VACANCIES and Article17: LEAVES OF ABSENCE.

The employer presented their counter to our 8/7/2025 proposal for improvements to Article 8: CORRECTIVE ACTION AND DISCIPLINE. We acknowledge the efforts made by the employer, but they fall short of our expectations.

JOIN US FOR BARGAINING
The only way to win a strong contract is with meaningful improvements is to show Sharp that we all stand behind our union.

Make your voice known. Attend as many bargaining sessions as possible.

📆 August 21

📆 August 28 – 29

📆 September 11 – 12 *

📆 September 18

📆 September 25 – 26

📆 September 30

San Diego Marriott Mission Valley
8757 Rio San Diego Dr.
San Diego, CA 92108

* Location TBD

SPNN Bargaining Update #2: August 8, 2025

Solidarity in Action 

Last Friday, a group of SPNN officers and members walked an early-morning picket line with our sisters and brothers from Kaiser San Diego for their one-day informational picket.

Nearly a thousand UNAC/UHCP members and supporters came out in a celebration of solidarity and empowerment—during their contract negotiations.

Right now, we can’t do that. It’s against our contract. We can only picket and/or strike if our contract expires first.

That’s why yesterday we submitted a no strike, no lockout proposal that would allow us to picket during our contract and join other Sharp unions when they picket during the life of our contract.

We also proposed new corrective action and discipline language that rewrites the administrative leave provision—because management is abusing the current language.

Reminder: Our contract expires soon—on September 30. We thank all our guests who showed up this week to support our team and encourage you to keep on coming.

JOIN US FOR FUTURE BARGAINING DATES

We’re bargaining every Thursday throughout August, plus the final Friday. Join us!

📆 August 14

📆 August 21

📆 August 28

📆 August 29

Location and time to be announced.

SPNN Bargaining Update #1: July 24, 2025

A Powerful First Day of Bargaining 

We had a powerful first day of contract negotiations yesterday, when SPNN member guests and all four UNAC/UHCP officers turned up in force to support our team.

We won management’s agreement that any nurse who gets assaulted on the job should be automatically awarded the rest of their shift off with full pay without having to ask for it.

We also won management approval to adopt gender-neutral language throughout the contract, i.e., change “he/she” to “they” and “his/her” to “their.”

Including those two, we won a total of six Tentative Agreements (TAs):

1. Changing gendered language throughout
2. Article 2 – Courtesy: maintained our current language
3. Article 6 – Non-Discrimination: maintained current language
4. Article 21 – Savings – maintained current language
5. Article 22 – Safety and Health: the remainder of shift off with pay after assault, at the nurse’s discretion
6. Article 29 – Parking: maintained current language

As a bargaining team, in caucus, we had extensive discussion about the ESI issue and other proposals to make in upcoming bargaining sessions.

JOIN US FOR FUTURE BARGAINING DATES
We’re bargaining every Thursday throughout August, plus the final Friday. Join us!

📆 August 7

📆 August 14

📆 August 21

📆 August 28

📆 August 29

Location and time to be announced.

Visit SPNN bargaining HQ to read important guidelines for attending bargaining and to see the latest bargaining updates.

Important Guidelines for Guests at SPNN Bargaining

We are glad you are attending negotiations as a guest! Your support is critical to showing management we are united for our hospitals, coworkers, and patients.

Please read all guidelines before attending; all guests are expected to abide by these guidelines. We want negotiations to be as open and transparent as possible and have developed these guidelines over hundreds of contract campaigns to allow our bargaining team to represent our bargaining unit as effectively as possible while also making space for member RNs to attend.

Please note that most of the time in negotiations is spent in caucus, not joint session with management. For much of a bargaining session, our team is working to create our proposals and respond to management’s proposals. It can often take hours before we meet with management. Consider bringing a book or other device to stay occupied. Negotiations involve a lot of waiting.

1. Plan to attend as much of the session as possible to hear the entire discussion. Guests who show up after a joint session with management has started might be unable to enter until we’ve gone into caucus. If you must leave early, exit when we’re not in joint session with management.
2. Wear any union swag you have! We’ll have extra buttons, shirts, and stickers.
3. Keep what you hear confidential, unless the bargaining team says it’s okay to put out specific information. Remember: the bargaining team has been involved in several prep and negotiation sessions before today. As a guest, you may be hearing only one small part without the context of a much longer discussion. You may be privy to confidential or private information or discussions about proposals and strategy. To negotiate the most successful contract possible and continue to have guests attend, everyone must agree to keep what they hear confidential. During joint sessions with management, the team has carefully prepared what will and won’t be said. The bargaining team will communicate with the union membership after each session, and the union cannot be the source of misinformation and rumors.
4. Cell phones and other devices must be turned on silent.
5. Minimize reactions to what management or the union chief negotiator might say at the table—including facial expressions, verbal comments, and body language. Do not talk among yourselves, across the table, or ask questions during the session. If you have questions during the joint session or the caucus, they should be written down and passed to a team member. They will be addressed if time allows. Remember that the caucus session is where the team does its work. It is essential to respect the time constraints and the complexity of the issues that need to be discussed by the team.

Download the guidelines.

Join Us For Our First Day of SPNN Bargaining 2025

Bargaining begins on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. Support our bargaining team and watch what happens at the bargaining table! Show management we’re united for good wages, benefits, and working conditions!

MEET OUR UNAC/UHCP OFFICERS
UNAC/UHCP officers Charmaine Morales, RN, President; Peter Sidhu, RN, Vice President, and Liz Hawkins, RN, Secretary, will show up to support our first day of bargaining.

WHERE
Doubletree by Hilton – Mission Valley
7450 Hazard Center Dr,
San Diego, 92108

WHEN
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
9:30 a.m.