Bargaining yesterday was a bit more productive than some previous sessions, but the Employer still owes us responses to several key proposals, such as Provider Profiles and After Hours Coverage.
Management did respond to proposals on Grievance Procedure and on Union Representatives, but conditioned movement in these areas on us relinquishing our right to sympathy strike. They also gave us a proposal on Professional Time related to partial day absences which includes provisions to:
- Allow management to engage in a disciplinary process when they believe someone has “excessive” partial day absences
- To require employees who are absent for a partial day to somehow make up any missed patient care hours
On our part, we gave them a revised proposal on telecommuting that emphasizes a collaborative approach in determining telecommuting practices, but requiring bargaining if the collaborative approach falls short. We also gave them the rest of our economic proposals, except for annual wage increases:
- Performance Improvement Bonus – language that would make goals for achievement of metrics challenging but attainable, and setting a minimum payout of $1500 (based on full-time status)
- Wages – compensation enhancements, including: adding longevity steps in the pay scale for 20 and 25 years, increasing bilingual differential to $3.00 /hr., increasing shift differential to $4.50/hr., and adding reimbursements for licensure and renewal fees
- Retirement Plans – increasing Employer match on 40i(k) plan from 1.25% to 3% and allowing payments on student loans replace employee contributions for purpose of employer match
Note that while our contract expires next Tuesday at midnight, under the law, all of its provisions (except the arbitration process and the no strike clause) remain in full force and effect.
