September 20/21 Mediation Update: TA Reached!

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After more than 20 hours of mediation, OHSU and Local 328 have reached a tentative agreement on our 2022 - 2025 contract! Our union’s bargaining team started these negotiations with the intention of getting high ATBs for our members and as many contract enhancements as we could, and we always hoped we could do this at the bargaining table. This TA represents the best contract in our union’s history, and it was only possible because you came out in record numbers to tell OHSU you were willing to strike to get it. The unwavering support of our membership was instrumental in sustaining our team during this long and incredibly difficult process — thank you and solidarity!!

Below is a summary of key points of the agreement; a PDF of the contract language can be viewed here. If possible, please read the linked proposals prior to asking a question, and check the other comments to make sure your question hasn’t been answered already. We’ll respond to questions as soon as possible, but we wrapped up at 5:30 a.m. today, and many of us will need to rest. We appreciate your patience!

Our bargaining team proudly recommends the ratification of this agreement. We’ll be sharing additional information — including a review copy of the entire proposed contract, dates for educational forums and details re: the dates of the ratification vote — as soon as possible.

  • Across-the-Board Increases:

    • Year 1 - 7%

    • Year 2 - 5%

    • Year 3 - 5%

  • Ratification/Lump-Sum Bonus (to be paid the second payday after ratification):

    • $3,000 for employees at 0.5 – 1.0 FTE

    • $1,500 for employees at 0 – 0.49 FTE.

Ed. Note: We've now posted a updated proposal-comparison calculator that shows the difference between this TA and our previous offer: https://www.local328.org/blog/ta-vs-previous-offer-comparison-calculator.

  • Longevity Increase: The word “consecutive” will be struck from this language effective March 13, 2023. Employees will be eligible for the longevity rate after serving five years (including non-consecutive time) in the same classification at the top of the pay scale.

  • Medical Monitoring for Pharmacists/Pharmacy Techs Who Compound Hazardous Drugs: A pilot program will be established to provide a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete blood count and urinalysis for the medical monitoring of these employees. (Additional details can be found in the PDF linked above.)

  • Exposure to Serious Communicable Disease: Employees required by Occupational Health to quarantine due to high-risk exposures at work will receive paid administrative leave (if they aren’t already receiving workers’ compensation benefits).

  • Weekend Differential: This differential will triple, from $0.50/hour to $1.50/hour.

  • Shift Differentials: There have been no changes to these differentials.

  • Preceptor Pay: The number of classifications eligible for this differential has more than tripled. Employees in classifications not included in the list will have a mechanism to request preceptor pay.

  • Holiday Compensation: Holiday hours for part-time employees will be prorated based on the greater of their FTE status or their average hours worked in the 13 pay periods prior to the holiday.

  • Well-being Leave: Within 120 days of contract ratification, OHSU will create a new well-being bank, starting employees with eight paid hours. An additional eight hours will be added to this bank yearly, on the employee’s anniversary date. To encourage use of this leave, the well-being bank will be capped at 24 hours. Employees will not be required to deplete this leave during protected leave such as FMLA. Employees are encouraged to give their manager as much notice as possible, but will not receive an attendance occurrence for using this time (as long as they follow their department’s call-our procedure).

  • Vacation and Sick Leave: There have been no changes to these accruals.

  • Attendance Recognition: The SIK-to-VAC incentive for good attendance has changed from a 2:1 conversion to a 1:1 conversion, as follows:

    • 0 unscheduled sick days per calendar year: convert up to 24 hours of SIK to up to 24 hours of VAC

    • 1 unscheduled sick day per calendar year: convert up to 16 hours of SIK to up to 16 hours of VAC

    • 2 unscheduled sick days per calendar year: convert up to 8 hours of SIK to up to 8 hours of VAC

  • Bereavement Leave: Employees will be able to take up to 20 hours of paid bereavement leave per year. Additional leave of up to two weeks, for which the employee may use their other paid accruals, may be granted at the manager’s discretion.

  • Insurance Employer Contribution: OHSU will continue to contribute 100% for employee-only coverage and 88% for all other tiers. Benefit dollars will be offered in three separate pools (medical, vision and dental), instead of one. Employees will now receive cash back if they opt out of dental and vision benefits (in addition to medical).

  • Additional Need Incentive: 30% or $10.00/hour, whichever is greater.

  • Appendix A — Contract Variations for Salaried Employees: A salaried employee who consistently works in excess of their FTE may work with their manager to utilize the process in section 6.6.1 (Clarification of Expectations) to discuss realigning their workload. Salaried chaplains and social workers will receive a quarterly stipend for excessive on-call.

  • Task Force on Workplace Mental-Health Support: This task force will make additional mental-health services (through our current EAP provider) available to employees, hire at least two social workers (if regulatory issues allow) within one year to provide workplace mental-health services to employees and more.

  • Task Force re: Advanced Professional Certification Differential: The parties will create a task force to work on adding a certification differential.

Jennifer Barker456 Comments