Bargaining Update: April 12
Today was an emotional day for our bargaining team. Our proposals today focused on protecting our members from the toxic OHSU culture that was well documented in the Covington report and providing a safety net for members around bereavement and caring for family members.
We know that today was an emotional day for our members and other employees as well, thanks to OHSU’s thoughtless phishing exercise that offered fake financial assistance for employees experiencing hardship due to the pandemic. As soon as member emails started coming in, we stopped our caucus to meet with OHSU. You can read our thoughts here.
Local 328 Proposals and Counterproposals:
This morning our team presented a number of proposals intended to better protect our members from harassment, discrimination, violence and abuse and to hold OHSU accountable. The proposal language can be viewed here. We’d like to thank all of our members who joined the session and shared their personal stories or observed the session. Our union’s diversity, equity and inclusion chair, TJ Acena, shared this statement.
2.7 Bargaining Unit Data: We re-presented this proposal, which would add demographic information to the data OHSU already provides our union about our bargaining unit, with an addition stating that employees would be given an option to decline to provide this information to OHSU and/or have it shared with our union.
New Article 5 Definitions: We proposed definitions of the following terms: Demographic Information, Protected Classes, Quid Pro Quo Harassment, Racist Abuse, Sexual-/Gender-Based Offensive Conduct or Harassment, Verbal Abuse, Violent Conduct and OHSU Member.
27.UX1 Immigration Status Safety: We re-presented this proposal — which would ensure that OHSU members, in their OHSU capacity, don’t report undocumented OHSU members to immigration authorities — with an addition referencing OHSU’s immigration FAQ on O2.
27.UX3 Safety from Harassment/Discrimination/Violence: We proposed this language that would obligate OHSU to keep its employees safe from harassment, discrimination, violence and abuse as a matter of safety. The language would apply to all OHSU members — employees plus vendors, students, contractors, patients and others.
MOU #UX1 Collection of Demographic Information: We re-presented this proposal, which describes the timeline under which OHSU will begin collecting and reporting on this information.
In the afternoon our team presented proposals intended to alleviate the stressors around bereavement, caring for ill family members, adjusting to a new child and more. Many members of our bargaining team shared emotional, personal stories about how much of an impact having paid bereavement leave or paid family leave would have had in their lives.
14.2.4 Bereavement Leave: We proposed the establishment of a bank of 56-hour paid bereavement-leave hours and other improvements to the bereavement-language language.
15.1.2 Relief Employee Insurance Benefits: We proposed language to ensure that employees who change between relief and regular status will not experience a lapse in their insurance benefits.
MOU #UX5 Paid Family Leave: We proposed an employer-paid family-leave benefit of up to 12 weeks, to be used to care for a family member or to be used by parents of new biological, adoptive or foster children; we also proposed an additional eight weeks of paid leave for employees who have given birth.
MOU #UX7 Employee Designations: We proposed that OHSU categorize all employees who are critical-function/essential workers, who work in hospital units and/or who work in seven-day-operations units, in order to reduce confusion during modified operations, around holiday scheduling, etc.
OHSU Proposals and Counterproposals:
1.1.1 Classified Employees: OHSU rejected our proposal to drop the threshold for entry into our bargaining unit from 18.5 hours to 16 hours.
2.9.4 Access to O2 Intranet Pages: OHSU again rejected our proposal that our staff representatives be given access to important announcements affecting our members (instead of relying on member leaders to forward information to them).
7.10 Shift Trades: We proposed language clarifying that salaried employees may trade shifts across pay periods and allowing supervisors to approve shift trades even if the trade would result in overtime or premium pay. OHSU accepted some, but not all, of our proposed changes. You can view our union’s proposal and OHSU’s response here.
14.1.5 Test and Interview Leave: We had proposed expanding this leave to lateral transfers as well as promotions, and to increase this time from two hours to four. OHSU accepted the expansion and countered with language expanding it to downward transfers as well; the employer rejected the four hours, but offered an additional paid hour upon manager approval.
20.1 Probationary Period: We had proposed language stating that employees transitioning to or from relief or flex positions into classifications with similar duties will not be required to serve a probationary period if they’ve already done so in that classification. OHSU preferred to address this in 20.2 Internal Job Change Evaluation: OHSU’s counter added our change, but only in the case of moves to relief or flex, not from.
22.1 Education and Training Hours: OHSU proposed requiring employees to give 28 days’ notice to request to participate in job-relating training and classes, instead of the current “as much advance notice as possible.”
Still to Come: Local 328 will be presenting proposals around our steward program, telework, Appendix A (salaried employees), some economics and more next week. Our major economic proposals (including across-the-board raises), and any remaining new proposals, will be presented on Tuesday, April 26, which is the last day for new proposals.
Stay Informed: We’ve added some dates for our monthly Wednesday bargaining forums — these meetings are currently scheduled for April 20, May 18, June 22 and July 13. For more information on these events, as well as the most current bargaining and union news, visit our Linktree. Please note that beginning in May, our bargaining forums will be restricted to dues-paying members only and our weekly email updates will only be sent to members. If you are not yet a member and would like to continue receiving news about our contract negotiations, you may join our union here.