Roughly 25,000 registered nurses who threatened to strike at University of California medical centers around the state earlier this month voted to finalize a contract offer over the weekend.

Nurses represented by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses United (CNA/NNU) previously called off a planned strike in mid-November after reaching a tentative agreement with the university’s leadership. 

The agreement does not apply to employees in other positions represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), who remain in negotiations for their own contract. 

The CNA/NNU represents registered nurses at the University of California, San Francisco; UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital, Oakland; University of California, Berkeley, and 16 other U.C. health care locations around the state, according to the union. 

The contract is backdated to Nov. 1, 2025 and runs through Jan. 31, 2029, according to a statement from the union on Saturday. 

It includes an 18.5% raise over the life of the contract and caps on health insurance contributions, along with more rest and meal breaks, which were stipulations that were intended to improve retention, according to the CNA/NNU’s statement. 

The university agreed to create a written disaster plan and share it with the union and provide training for disaster events, the union said.  

The contract also enacted restrictions on assigning nurses from one facility to another to alleviate staffing shortages, a practice the union called “floating,” that it alleged the university had been misusing. 

“UC nurses were unified in our demands for a contract that reversed and halted UC management’s growing practice of short-staffing facilities, cutting back on resources, and forcing RNs to do more with less support,” said Marlene Tucay, an RN who is a member of the union’s bargaining team. “As a result of the commitment of all CNA members, we won a contract that will improve outcomes for nurses and our patients.” 

A spokesperson for the University of California did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent Sunday. But the university released a statement after the tentative agreement was reached earlier this month that said the negotiators had worked to find a comprehensive solution to the union’s demands by involving many stakeholders in the health care system. 

“We’re grateful to the nurses and the CNA bargaining team for their partnership and shared commitment to what matters most: our patients and the UC community,” Missy Matella, a member of the university’s labor negotiating team, said in a statement at the time. “This strong, forward-looking deal honors the vital role nurses play in delivering exceptional care and advancing UC’s public service mission.” 

The agreement also ensures that unionized RNs will have a stake in deciding what artificial intelligence could be introduced to the University of California health care system, according to the CNA/NNU.