Aug. 11 Vaccine Bargaining Update

On Wednesday, August 11, Local 328 member leaders met with OHSU for a third time, to bargain the impact of the COVID testing mandate for health-care workers put forth by Governor Kate Brown and the Oregon  Health Authority.

Testing: We were pleased to hear that the latest version of OHSU’s vaccine policy takes into account the fact that many of our members no longer come to campus for work: they will not be subject to weekly COVID tests if they are unvaccinated. Flex employees, or employees who are still required to come to campus occasionally, will be subject to weekly testing prior to their shift if they are unvaccinated. Our team expressed our concern with this part of the policy, as we believe that requiring employees to be tested when they are not required to be on site for a shift is an unnecessary disruption to their personal lives. 

Badge Stickers: OHSU still continues to dispute our union’s request to allow vaccinated members the option to place the COVID vaccination-status sticker on the back of their badge, if they so choose. We believe that being required to show proof of this vaccination status to the public is a violation of one’s private health information and is instead something that one should be able to choose to voluntarily disclose (see U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws,” section K.4).  

COVID Leave: Local 328 continues to propose that OHSU reinstate the use of COVID sick hours for employees who have been exposed to COVID and are awaiting their test results, so that they do not have to use their personal sick-time accruals. With the number of COVID cases on the rise, we do not believe that COVID sick leave should be diminished in any way from what it was at the beginning of the pandemic. 

Clearly, this is a complicated, multifaceted situation. Our union believes that although we have had three productive conversations with OHSU thus far, we still have a way to go before reaching a decision that balances public-health needs while still respecting the health privacy of our members, regardless of their vaccine status.

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