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The negotiating committee for the registered nurses union at UPMC Altoona has reached a tentative contract agreement with the hospital, according to a union spokesperson.
The SEIU Healthcare PA rank and file will learn the details of the contract throughout the day today and vote to ratify or reject the contract, according to the spokesperson.
The results of the vote should be known late this evening, the spokesperson said.
The nurses have been working under terms of a contract that expired at the end of last year.
The sides began negotiating in late October.
The nurses rejected a "final" offer in mid-December, then authorized the bargaining committee to file a 10-day strike notice.
Not long after that, the sides agreed to extend the contract to the end of January.
When that extension expired, they agreed to extend the talks into February.
The nurses have said they want increased staffing to benefit all parties -- nurses, the hospital and especially patients.
More staffers means better-rested and more alert nurses and thus better care, higher patient satisfaction, better outcomes and better reimbursement for the hospital, they have said.