Nurses, University of Chicago hospital reach agreement

CHICAGO (AP) - A planned one-day strike by some 2,200 nurses at the University of Chicago Medical Center has been called off after their union reached an agreement with the hospital.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the agreement between the 618-bed hospital and the nurses who have been without a contract since April was reached on Saturday morning.

The union had planned to strike on Tuesday and the hospital had said it would lock the nurses out for another four days to guarantee replacement nurses a certain amount of work.

That's what happened in September when a one-day strike by nurses was followed by a four-day lockout. The nurses had been seeking lower nurse-to-patient ratios but the terms of the agreement were not immediately made available.