Bargaining Update: Feb. 1 Session
Although Local 328’s weekly negotiation sessions with OHSU won’t begin until Tuesday, March 8, today was the official start of bargaining! Oregon statutes require that public employers and unions must participate in direct contract negotiations with each other for at least 150 days. By negotiating some contract language today, our teams have started that 150-day timeline.
Today, Feb. 1, we discussed our joint ground rules for bargaining, covering such matters as proposal deadlines, attendance, note-taking, in-session communications, guidelines for observers and more. We also reached tentative agreement on a number of non-substantive (“housekeeping”) changes, including:
Clarifying the procedure for voluntary cash-out of vacation accruals
Defining “paid status,” in order to reduce confusion about what it means to be in paid status before and after a holiday in order to receive holiday pay
Removing language about obsolete programs
These agreements are called “tentative” because although both parties have agreed to the changes, they won’t actually take effect until our members vote on the full contract at the end of bargaining.
What’s Next?
Our union’s bargaining team will meet several more times before our next negotiation session with OHSU. In addition to full-day training sessions on Feb. 8 and 9, we also have work days (for drafting proposed contract language, finalizing bargaining strategies, etc.) scheduled for Feb. 22 and March 1.
Once the weekly negotiation sessions begin on March 8, we’ll email weekly updates to keep our members informed. Our March 2 membership meeting (details forthcoming) will focus on bargaining, and we’ll also be scheduling town halls and other opportunities for members to stay informed as we negotiate our next contract. In the meantime, please feel free to ask bargaining-related questions in the comments below! (Please be sure to read our commenting guidelines first, linked below.)
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