WATSONVILLE >> A few days after voting to authorize a strike, Watsonville Community Hospital service workers reached a tentative agreement with hospital management Thursday, staving off a strike.

Union members will vote Tuesday on whether or not to approve the agreement.

Among the conditions of the new agreement are access to affordable health care for frontline workers and their families, raises of 9% over three years and special adjustments in the first two years to help close the pay gap between frontline workers at Watsonville Community Hospital and other area hospitals. The new tentative agreement will cover various job classes, including patient care partners, clinical laboratory specialists, pharmacy technicians, surgical technologists, patient transporters, radiology clerks, emergency room technicians, food service workers, lab technicians, environmental services aides and other frontline health care workers.“This is more than a job for us,” Chris Gil, a surgical technologist at Watsonville Community Hospital for 11 years, said in a statement. “I was born here, most of us get our care here. We bring our families to this hospital. We want to make sure we can keep providing quality care to the community, and this new agreement will go a long way to helping ensure that.”

On March 3, nearly 200 Watsonville Community Hospital service workers who are members of Service Employees International Union United Healthcare Workers West voted by a margin of 98% to give the union authority to call for a labor strike if necessary. The union accused hospital management and its Board of Directors of refusing to acknowledge the staffing and patient care crisis at the facility and not bargaining in good faith. Additionally, the union’s two bargaining units had expired contracts. The contract for the larger unit, representing 174 employees, expired Aug. 25. The contract for the smaller unit, representing 15 employees, expired Feb. 28.

The union had authorized an unfair labor practice strike to take place over three days if an agreement could not be reached. If the tentative agreement is approved Tuesday, the strike will be averted.

“A lot of healthcare workers have been leaving our hospital after just a few years, looking for better pay and benefits,” Emily Tiongson, a 23-year lead clinical lab scientist, said in a statement. “This new agreement will help us keep our experienced caregivers so we can focus on our patients and ensure quality healthcare for our community.”