Mediation Update: June 28

In a 13-hour mediation session on Friday, Local 328’s bargaining team strived in good faith to develop a comprehensive package supposal for OHSU that addressed all of the outstanding issues that remained on the table. Late in the evening, OHSU responded with an insurance proposal that our team rejected almost immediately. To say that we were disappointed would be an understatement. With three days of mediation now under our belts, OHSU continues to propose the 5% insurance premium cost-shift, a spousal surcharge and other language that our members have rejected. Despite how clear our members have been about the hardship these take-backs present, OHSU does not appear to be listening. OHSU also continues to make proposals with two-tiered, union-busting language that we feel is an attempt to pit our members against each other. We’re not having it — ALL members of our bargaining unit deserve a fair contract. We question how seriously management is taking this process, since most of the OHSU bargaining team left the building before our team presented our final counterproposal. While the two parties still remain very far apart — and seem at times to be speaking different languages — we still hope to see movement from OHSU in the days ahead, and we will continue to negotiate in good faith.

As our union moves through the final phases of bargaining, it's imperative that our members talk with AFSCME coworkers about bargaining. You must also consider what you’re willing to do to escalate if OHSU will not move at the table. As we’ve mentioned before, escalation will likely involve an informational picket and a strike authorization vote.A detailed rundown of the day’s activities can be found below.

On Friday, June 28, the AFSCME Local 328 bargaining team spent almost nine hours reviewing all of the outstanding articles and issues remaining on the table. At approximately 4:45 p.m., we presented OHSU with a comprehensive supposal package. Although the details of the supposal must remain confidential, we can share the following highlights with our members:

• Across-the-Board Wage Increases — Maintain our proposal of 5% and 4% increases for all members of the bargaining unit.

  • We fully reject any union-busting two-tiered language that would drive a wedge between our lower- and higher-paid employees.

• Appendix A (Salaried Employees) — Maintain proposal for increased vacation accruals, eligibility for progression increases and other contract improvements; make some movement toward OHSU.

• Staffing-Related Proposals — Reject OHSU’s many proposed changes related to attendance and resulting staffing issues; re-propose a staffing task force.

  • We strongly feel that attendance issues should be addressed by the managers of individual employees rather than via contract changes that would impact the thousands of employees for whom attendance is not an issue. We do share an interest in addressing staffing issues and problematic attendance, however, so hope to work collaboratively with OHSU on these issues by way of a staffing task force.

• Insurance-Related Proposals — Reject OHSU’s health-insurance take-backs, including the spousal surcharge and the 5% premium shift to employees; maintain our initial proposal to return to a collaborative model for the Employee Benefits Council.

  • Our members remain strongly opposed to take-backs in this area.

• Pay-Equity Proposals —  Maintain current contract language (reject OHSU’s proposals to address potential pay inequities via wide-ranging changes to our members’ compensation.

  • While we understand OHSU’s need to comply with Oregon’s pay-equity law, we believe that recent legislation has made OHSU’s proposed pay-equity language moot.

• PERS-Related Proposals — Maintain our proposals to restore the longevity rate and add a 403(b) match; withdraw proposal for retirement offsets in the event of legislative changes to the PERS program.

• Vacation and PTO Proposals — Maintain our proposal for increased vacation accruals for all members of the bargaining unit; reject OHSU’s PTO-related proposals.

  • Our members remain strongly opposed to changing the current VAC/SIK system.

• Miscellaneous Proposals —

  • Certifications — Make movement toward OHSU here; maintain language that would create a new differential for employees with advanced certifications.

  • Lump-Sum Payment — Withdraw this proposal in order to free up the estimated-by-OHSU $3.69 million for use in economic improvements in other areas of the contract.

  • TriMet Passes — Make movement toward OHSU here; maintain language that would still result in cost savings for our represented employees. 

  • Other — There are still a number of other proposals on the table, including around co-branding, contracting, bereavement leave and length of the contract. We also proposed agreement on a few articles.

At 7:45 p.m., OHSU presented our team with a counterproposal around health insurance, which included:

• Offering a five-year contract.

• Maintaining the premium 5% cost shift to employees, except those making $19.23/hour or less.

• Reducing the opt-out cash benefit for full-time employees by limiting the dental and core-life portions.

• Removing the opt-out cash benefit for part-time employees

• Referencing a not-yet-in-existence lower-cost PPO that would theoretically offer savings to employees based on whether they make more or less than $19.23/hour.

• Referencing not-yet-in-existence wellness requirements intended to give employees a chance for employees to earn back the 5% premium take-backs.

• Changing the spousal surcharge to $50/month for year 1, $75/month for year 2, $100/month for year 3, $75/month for year 4 and $50/month for year 5 — except for employees who make $19.23/hour or less or when both employees work at OHSU.

OHSU’s team stated earlier in the evening that they would be working on a comprehensive response to our supposal over the weekend, to present on our next day of mediation, Monday, July 1. As such, we wanted to respond to their insurance proposal before the weekend so they could work on all outstanding issues. While the Local 328 bargaining team was preparing a counterproposal to present to OHSU, we saw the majority of OHSU’s bargaining team leaving the building for the night. Despite this, we were able to present a counterproposal to the three members of the management team who remained. Before wrapping up around 9:20 p.m., our union presented a health-insurance counterproposal that included the following:

• 15.2.1 Full-time Employees — Maintaining current contract language (100% employer contribution for employee-only health insurance).

• 15.X Spousal Surcharge — Rejecting any form of a spousal surcharge.

• Appendix C Employee Benefits Council — Maintaining our proposal to return to the collaborative model that served both parties well for many years.

Despite the lack of movement in this mediation session, we continue to hope that OHSU will bring our union a fair contract package that meets our membership’s needs. In the meantime, both teams agreed to extend our current contract through Tuesday, July 2.