Bargaining-Session Update: June 4
Our members deserve a fair contract with no take-backs, and we have the power to get it. OHSU proposes financial take-backs every contract because it thinks our members will just accept them, but you have the power to say “enough is enough” and prove OHSU wrong. Please participate in the following actions to help us win a fair contract:
OHSU’s first bargaining forum with HR director Hollie Hemenway will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, June 5, from 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. in Richard Jones Hall rm. 4320. We encourage our members to attend (wearing green and wearing your AFSCME buttons and stickers, of course) and respectfully engage as OHSU presents information about its proposals. Come prepared with your questions!
Join your coworkers at our family-friendly bargaining rally and BBQ on Thursday, June 13, starting at 4:00 p.m. on the Mac Hall lawn. Join us for all or part of the gathering. This fun event will be one of the best tools we have, short of a strike, to show OHSU the strength of our opposition to the take-backs it has proposed. Please RSVP here!
Our bargaining survey will close on Friday, June 14. If you haven’t yet done so, please take the survey now.
Today, the teams worked on negotiating changes to Article 28 Labor Management Committee. In the morning, our union presented a counterproposal to OHSU that would:
Reinforce the Career and Workplace Enhancement Center’s commitment to the career advancement of members of our bargaining unit.
Clarify the roles of the LMC and the CWE Center.
Add to the services provided by the CWE Center — English-language learning, basic computer skills, classes scheduled during off shifts, etc.
Give priority placement in classes to bargaining-unit members.
Authorize charging a fee for class registration for employees who aren’t members of the bargaining unit.
Maintain language stipulating that the Local 328 president shall appoint the AFSCME representatives to work-unit labor-management committees.
Propose a charter template to assist in the formation of work-unit labor-management committees (similar to the templates used to create consensus agreements).
Approve LMC funding for the next two years.
OHSU responded to our LMC counterproposal late in the day. The teams will continue working on this contract language in future sessions. In addition, the teams reached tentative agreements on the following sections of the contract:
5.X Student Worker: adds a new definition to this section of the contract
7.2.5 Posting of Varying Work Schedules: adds language requiring printed work schedules to be posted in work areas where computer access isn’t readily available
7.2.6 Changes in Work Location: adds new language addressing how work is assigned and how much notice is given when a department needs to change a work location
15.2.4 Employee Premium Deductions: changes when insurance premiums are deducted from employees’ pay (to essentially reflect current practice)
16.1 Plan Election: decreases the time frame for pension-plan election to 90 days from date of hire
26 Parking: changes the name of this article to “Transportation and Parking”
Memorandum of Understanding #3 Code of Conduct: deletes this language (new related language has been added elsewhere in the contract)