Under the new contract, the nurses represented by the California Nurses Association will receive 4 percent pay raises each year through 2017.
"We are pleased to have reached an agreement with CNA that maintains competitive market wages and benefits for our hard-working nurses and recognizes the excellent patient care they provide every day at our medical centers and student health centers," Dwaine Duckett, UC vice president for system-wide human resources, said in a statement.
The four-year agreement still needs to be voted on by the nurses.
Joe Lindsay, direction of the CNA's University of California division, said he expected the members to approve the contract.
Due to the preliminary deal, the nurses will no longer join a possible one-day walkout with other unionized workers on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
