Yesterday, management finally responded to our July 11 proposal to have robust, dedicated teams for after-hours coverage in the Emergency Departments at all locations. Their response failed to address our desire to eliminate involuntary call because of the myriad of issues that arise by having clinical staff cover the EDs between their regular shifts.
While agreeing that use of non-dedicated staff is not optimal, they still rejected our proposal and instead proposed setting up a committee to develop a plan to better train non-dedicated clinical staff, so they can be better prepared when forced to work involuntarily in the ED. Needless to say, we rejected this approach and will continue to insist management make a commitment to work toward eliminating involuntary call.
The Employer also told us they were rejecting our latest proposals and sticking with their proposals. on Reduction in Force, Workload Distribution and Provider Profiles, and Disputes. They gave us one more written proposal for a four-year term of agreement.
On our part, we made movement on several of our proposals in attempt to reach tentative agreements on the following:
- Article IX – Seniority
- Article X – Posting and Filling Positions
- Article XV – Professional Hours
- Article XVI – Regular, Part-time, Short-hour and Per Diem Employees
- Article XXV – Retirement Plans
- Article XXVi – Union Representation
- Article XXXI – Professional Practice Committees
- Appendix D – Incentive Plan Description and Eligibility Criteria
- LOU – Per Diem Work Commitment
- LOU – Telecommuting
- LOU – New Technology
We also offered once again to sign a tentative agreement on eleven non-controversial articles in the contract, since neither party has proposed changing them after fourmonths of bargaining.
At this point, the Employer owes us responses on all of the above plus on most of the economic proposals, including PTO, Incentive Plan, Bilingual Differential, Longevity Steps and Wage Scales.
