The year-long battle to reach a contract agreement for nurses at Washington's largest hospital may finally be over.
Officials from Washington Hospital Center and the union representing 1,700 nurses announced a tentative deal Wednesday but are staying tight-lipped on specifics.
An official vote to ratify the contract is scheduled for Friday and Saturday.
In the meantime, the union has called off an informational picket set for the end of the week.
This development is a step in the right direction considering the nurses have been working without a contract for a year.
Tensions built when they walked off the job in early March after negotiations broke down.
Their one-day strike ended with them being locked out from work for an additional four days.
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The tentative contract agreement comes one week after the 926-bed hospital announced 200 employees across all departments were being handed pink slips.
That’s about three percent of the hospital’s 6,200 employees.
