Santa Clara Nurses Reject Pay-Raise Delay

Santa Clara County nurses have rejected a county request to delay cost-of-living raises they secured after a 2024 strike, opening a new fight between hospital workers and county leaders as officials try to close a widening budget gap. The dispute centers on raises written into a four-year contract ratified by nurses in May 2024 after a three-day strike that forced the county to spend more than $20 million on traveling nurses. (sanjosespotlight.com) County Executive James Williams asked union leaders for a May 1 meeting to discuss deferring the raises, according to a letter reported by San José Spotlight. The Registered Nurses Professional Association, which represents more than 4,500 county nurses, said it unanimously opposed the request and argued the raises are legally binding. (sanjosespotlight.com) ### What exactly did the county ask nurses to do? A May 1 letter from county officials asked leaders of the Registered Nurses Professional Association to discuss deferred raises that nurses had won in their contract, San José Spotlight reported. Williams tied the request to the county’s budget crisis and said salary and benefit costs make up one of the largest portions of the adopted budget. Allan Kamara, president of the nurses union, told the outlet the union opposed the request. Kamara said nurses were “furious” and argued the county could not force a delay or withhold raises that were guaranteed in the agreement. (sanjosespotlight.com) ### Where did those raises come from? May 25, 2024, was the date San José Spotlight reported that more than 88% of RNPA members voted to ratify a tentative four-year agreement with the county. The deal followed months of bargaining over pay, staffing and safety, and came after thousands of nurses walked off the job for three days in April 2024. The 2024 agreement gave nurses a 15% compounded raise over four years, according to the report. (sanjosespotlight.com) RNPA President Susie York said at the time the contract included improvements to pay and working conditions that would help the county recruit and retain nurses. ### How big is the county’s budget problem? Santa Clara County leaders said on May 1 that they were recommending a net reduction of 464 jobs across safety-net programs to address a $787 million deficit in a budget of nearly $15 billion. Williams said the county was also absorbing the effects of federal spending cuts under H.R. 1, which county officials estimate will cost the county about $1 billion a year. (sanjosespotlight.com) February 13, 2026, marked an earlier warning sign. County leaders then said they were facing a $470 million shortfall in the upcoming fiscal year, had already moved 60 employees to other roles without layoffs and eliminated 365 positions, most of them unfilled. Officials said a roughly $270 million gap still remained at that stage of the budget process. (sanjosespotlight.com) ### Didn’t voters approve a tax to help the hospital system? Last November, county voters approved Measure A, a five-eighths cent sales tax increase that county leaders said would bring in about $330 million to $337 million a year. Williams has proposed directing all of that revenue to the county’s public hospital system. (sanjosespotlight.com) County officials have also said Measure A will not close the full gap. Williams told reporters on May 1 that the county needed state help to preserve access to care and manage the cost of residents losing coverage because of federal policy changes. ### Why are nurses resisting the delay so strongly? (sanjosespotlight.com) The nurses union says the issue is about both contract enforcement and staffing. Kamara told San José Spotlight that the raises were won in writing after a hard-fought strike and are needed in a system nurses say has chronic morale and retention problems. The 2024 contract fight was also framed around recruitment and retention. (sanjosespotlight.com) York said after ratification that the agreement would help the county keep “top quality nurses,” while also addressing staffing and scheduling issues. ### What happens next? June 30 is the county’s deadline to adopt the next budget, according to the county budget process described in local coverage. (sanjosespotlight.com) The Board of Supervisors can still make changes before final adoption, while Williams and RNPA leaders remain divided over whether the scheduled raises can be postponed. (sanjosespotlight.com) (sanjosespotlight.com)