06:51 AM PST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Associated Press

SEATTLE - A contract covering more than 4,200 nurses, support workers and technical staff at Swedish Medical Center, the largest hospital system in the Pacific Northwest, has been ratified, union leaders say.

Approval was overwhelming among the 1,211 workers who cast ballots, officials of Service Employees International Union Local 1199NW said Tuesday.

Two previous offers were rejected by employees of Swedish, which operates three hospitals with state approval for inpatient care of nearly 1,300 people and has a satellite emergency room and specialty center in suburban Issaquah, 12 primary care clinics and a number of specialty clinics, all in the Seattle area.

In one key provision, Swedish will keep paying health premiums under its basic health care package for employees, but workers must pay 5 percent of the premiums for family members by 2008.

In another change, all new employees starting next year will be enrolled in a 401(k)-style defined contribution retirement plan, rather than the defined-benefit pension plan the current staff has.

The agreement also includes $350,000 annually for employee training and a commitment by Swedish to explore a multihospital pension plan.

A federal mediator got the two sides to resume talks last month. In November hospital officials said they were not inclined to return to the table following rejection of an offer that would have required employees to begin paying part of their own health insurance premiums.

The agreement runs through 2008.

"Overall, it's good," said Sally O'Neill, a registered nurse and a member of the bargaining team. "It took us a long time to get to this."

Swedish chief financial officer Ronald K. Sperling said in a statement the contract "offers the leading wage and benefits package in the local health care market."