The members of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) voted 78 per cent in favour of accepting the "final offer" from the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) in a province-wide vote on Monday.

The nurses' new collective agreement is good for four years, and will give a 35 per cent wage increase over four years for a general duty nurse.

There are about 360 RNs and RPNs in the Sun Country Health Region, working in health care facilities, public health centres, primary health centres, mental health and addictions, and in the home care program.

When the "final offer" by SAHO was made, the SUN negotiating committee made no recommendations about whether their members should accept or reject the offer, saying while the wage package was lucrative, there were deficiencies in other areas which prevented them from recommending the deal.

Following the vote, SUN president Rosalee Longmoore commented, "Health regions essentially said to nurses, we will give you a big wage and premium increase, but we refuse to fix staffing and patient safety issues, even with your strike vote. The 78 per cent acceptance vote means that most nurses believe that government isn't prepared to hold health regions accountable for failing to improve retention and recruitment."

The wage element of the deal will give nurses near-parity with Alberta nurses in years one and two with wages and premiums. In the first year there is a general wage increase of five per cent, plus a "market adjustment" increase of another five per cent, and five per cent each of the following years.

In addition, there will be a two-per-cent long service premium for nurses with 20 years of service in the bargaining unit, and there will be provincial service recognition premiums in 2011 and 2012, and a special premium for RN Nurse Practitioners. All overtime will be paid in double time, and there is an increase in weekend, shift differential and standby premiums closer to those in place in Alberta.

There will be up to eight hours a year of paid professional development, pro-rated for other than full-time RNs and RPNs, and there is improved maternity and paternity adoption leave and supplemental employment benefit.

Longmoore claims that health regions refused to commit to hiring targets, and refused to improve staffing or patient safety.

"That means employers will continue to use money from nursing vacancies to balance budgets, the nursing shortage will continue, so the public still won't get the services they are paying for, and that's just wrong," she said.