Budget Talks Update #4 -- OHSU's Proposal
As you’re aware, we received a proposal from OHSU this week in response to its budget situation. This has, of course, raised numerous questions. Our union’s COVID-19 Impact Response Team met with OHSU representatives on Friday, May 22, and discussed ground rules, communication guidelines and some aspects of the proposal.
While OHSU was, unfortunately, not able to answer all of the CIRT’s questions by the time of the meeting, we feel it’s important to share details of the proposal with the members of our bargaining unit at this point.
OHSU’s proposal consists of four main points:
Delay of the July 1 across-the-board-wage increase for up to a year.
Staff redeployment with only “reasonable” notice (up to 24 hours).
Temporary layoffs (with benefits remaining in place).
Creation of an AFSCME/OHSU COVID-19 task force.
Our union will hold a number of virtual town halls next week for our members to ask questions and give us feedback. (Dues-paying members will receive an email tomorrow with details.) If you’d like to send us feedback or a question on this subject, please email info@local328.org. In the meantime, the CIRT would like to share our outlook for members to consider as they read OHSU’s proposal for themselves.
In short, AFSCME Local 328 is willing to work with OHSU in good faith to try to find solutions to its budgetary problems related to COVID-19, but we do not support an agreement that keeps much-needed money out of our members’ pockets.
Between 2005 and 2008, our contract included a 3% across-the-board wage increase each year. In 2009, after the recession hit, we didn’t receive an across-the-board increase at all. For the next decade, the only time we received a 3% increase was in 2015 — OHSU agreed to this so that PERS employees wouldn’t face a 3% pay cut due to OHSU’s changes to their pension contributions. We also saw our pay scale expand from 10 steps to 13 steps, delaying the amount of time it takes to reach the top of the pay scale by 30%. Our members accepted these financial sacrifices because OHSU repeatedly said it needed to save for a rainy day. In the meantime, OHSU’s cash reserves grew to more than a billion dollars, and it has one of the best credit ratings possible.
OHSU is, without question, facing a rainy day at this time. Even so, our union has a number of concerns about OHSU’s proposal.
During bargaining in 2019, our union made it known that many of our represented employees were struggling financially; housing costs in the Portland metro area had risen significantly since the last recession, and our wages were simply not keeping pace. Our members fought tooth-and-nail for a fair contract, and our 2019-2022 contract is the first one in a decade that includes across-the-board increases that actually keep up with the cost of living, with no take-backs. Even so, our membership is still struggling. About 17% of our bargaining unit received financial assistance from OHSU’s hardship fund (receiving more than 85% of the grants, for a total of $853,500) and an additional number received assistance from Local 328’s own hardship fund. Our members are hurting now. The upcoming 3% raise could be a lifeline for these folks, and others are also counting on the increase. We don’t feel we should jeopardize the financial well-being of 7,000+ employees by delaying this raise.
OHSU made a three-year commitment to our bargaining unit, and it should be expected to honor that commitment. It would be a disservice to our members who fought and marched and picketed for this contract to face take-backs after less than a year. Yes, OHSU is facing a budget crisis, but our contract was ratified only nine months ago — agreeing to OHSU’s proposed take-back now would weaken the premise that our contract represents a solid commitment to our membership.
Many at OHSU believe that everyone is being made or asked to chip in to help OHSU, but that isn’t the case. We certainly don’t begrudge our coworkers who are being kept whole or offered raises, but it’s important that our membership knows that not all employee groups are being asked/made to sacrifice equally, if at all:
UAs/faculty: pay cuts, no annual increases
Research: no annual increases
Post-docs: no change (national standards)
Grad students: no change (GRU was approached by OHSU and said no)
OHSU police: OPA has been approached by OHSU — outcome TBD
Residents: in bargaining — offered raises above national standards
ONA: in bargaining (currently paused) — outcome TBD
Local 328: OHSU proposed delayed annual increases, redeployment, temporary & (likely) permanent layoffs
The temporary layoffs proposed by OHSU would not follow the Article 19 layoff protections in our contract. Those who are laid off wouldn’t be able to fill a vacancy or go on the preferential-hire list as an alternative to layoff. (OHSU would consider volunteers, and benefits would remain in place.)
In October, faculty will have the opportunity to get back 10% of their pay cut based on whether certain goals are met. Our members have demonstrated a willingness to help OHSU in this time of crisis, but we can’t justify locking our members into up to a year of financial sacrifice — and still face layoffs — when it may be just a temporary or reversible condition for other employee groups.
The attorney assisting OHSU with this process is Mike Brunet, who was a member of OHSU’s tainted, problematic bargaining team in 2019. Quite frankly, we don’t trust his involvement and question why OHSU thought it would be appropriate to involve him. In addition, this isn’t bargaining — hiring outside counsel for this process seems wasteful.
There’s absolutely no guarantee that our bargaining unit won’t still face relatively large-scale layoffs even if we agree to delay our July 1 pay increase; in fact, OHSU’s own communications have indicated that some layoffs are likely. Our union’s goal is to do what is best for the greatest number of our employees — we don’t feel it would be right to ask 7,000+ folks to take a financial hit and still be at risk of losing their jobs.
In closing, we’d like to make it clear that Local 328 is amenable to a number of voluntary solutions to help OHSU pull out of its financial crisis. We are willing to work with OHSU to explore savings that can be obtained through means such as voluntary furlough days, temporary voluntary FTE reductions or early retirement.
Please read OHSU’s proposal carefully and give us your feedback via our blog, Facebook, email or your department’s unit steward. We want to hear from you!
Our members know the power of solidarity and that OHSU works because we do. Regardless of the outcome of this current crisis, we will get through it together.