Twin Cities nurses will vote next week on a tentative contract agreement.

The tentative agreement on a new three-year contract was reached Thursday after only one day of negotiations between the Minnesota Nurses Association and North Memorial Health Care, Park Nicollet Health Services, Children's Hospitals and Clinics, Fairview Health Services, HealthEast Care System and Allina Health.

Contract negotiations in 2010 were far more contentious. That year, an agreement was reached only after three months of hard-fought negotiations that narrowly averted a strike.

Under the proposed new contract, nurses would receive a 4.5 percent wage increase over three years beginning June 1, 2013.

Jan Rabbers, a spokeswoman for the nurses, said negotiations this time focused only on wages.

"It's a fair settlement," she said, adding that now it's time to focus on providing "excellent care to our patients."

MARY LYNN SMITH