SEIU Local 1199WI

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Bargaining Alerts

WEAR Your Union Badges—Support our Team

Volume 5, March 10, 2005

Operation Purple Begins!
By our Nurses’ Union Bargaining Team

Unresolved Issues

Health Insurance:
Meriter wants the right to increase your co-pays, deductibles, and co-insurance by 50% per year—major takeaway and lots of money potentially lost!

Nurse Tracking:
Meriter wants the right to use new technology to track nurse whereabouts for disciplinary purposes—big brother is watching!!

Wages:
Meriter is proposing an increase of 5.5% in 2005 and 5% in 2006 with a re-opener for bargaining the 2007 & 2008 wages

4-Year Contract:
Meriter wants a 4-year agreement with a re-opener on wages and premiums only in 2007

Let’s get our Walking Shoes on and Send a Message

This Week’s Events:

Sunday, March 13th: Phone trees activated with important special instructions for Monday—Listen Up and Pass it along promptly!!

Monday, March 14th:
Wear Purple Today!! Attend Bargaining from 7:30a. Let’s make a clear statement to management about how important these issues are to all of us!

Volume 4, February 18, 2005

The Week (#3) in Review...
By our Nurses’ Union Bargaining Team

Lively, productive discussions on the following issues:
*Extra Shifts Procedure
*Birthing Center Scheduled On-Call
*Automated Time Clock—presentation by UW Union Nurse—many problems noted
*Mandates, Mandates, Mandates…are you sick of doing them? Come and help us figure out how to make them stop!
*Wage Compensation package—management is offering 2% per year increases—do you think this is enough? We don’t.

Resolved this Week:
*Unit allocation plans for educational funds for staff usage
*Improving Staff Meetings
*Developed short term unit consolidation process

Call our Union Bargaining Hotline 277-1199, Ext 41
Bargaining Info and Daily Schedules
Updated daily by 7 p.m.

This is Our Union Contract-Let’s Make It Work for US!!
Attend Your Union Bargaining Sessions!

Volume 3, February 10, 2005

The Week (#2) in Review…
By our Nurses’ Union Bargaining Team

Issues discussed:
*“Mystery” money allocated for conference time revealed
*Meriter wants total control over Health Insurance plan design and coverages without bargaining with our Union first
*Staffing Matrices: Who decides how much staff we need? Do we really have a voice?
*Meriter believes mistakes and/or disciplines stay forever in your record and can come back to haunt you
*Mandates, Mandates, Mandates…how to make them stop?

Resolved this Week:
*12-hour shifts working every 3rd weekend get one weekend off per year with a block of ET without having to provide own coverage
*Continue Floating Taskforce
*Developed checklist to be used when satellite units are necessary
*Clarified: 1.0 FTE Permanent NOC shift get weekends off
*Clarified: Call in times for ill calls

Volume 2, February 4, 2005

The Week in Review…
By our Nurses’ Union Bargaining Team

Issues discussed:
*ET Requests for staff working every third weekend
*Professional Development:
*Conference Allocations for Units
How does it get distributed
To whom it gets distributed
*Improving Orientation Process for Preceptor & Orientee
*Extra Shift Scheduling
*Per Diem Program Guidelines
*Staff RN input into design and re-design of physical space and patient flow of units
*Mandates: understand reasons and develop possible solutions
*Low Census Day impact on employees

Volume 1, January, 25, 2005

Everything You Wanted to Know about...
By Mary Malaney, RN, MU, Bargaining Team

Bargaining!! Four years ago we changed how we bargain our contacts. Previous to 2001, our bargaining team and management would separately prepare a list of proposals/changes they wanted in the contract, complete with the new contract language each wanted. The bargaining sessions were spent trying to convince the other side to accept the proposal as it was or with mutually agreed upon changes. We got some good gains doing this type of bargaining but it is rather limiting in what can be accomplished.

So in 2001, we changed to a type of bargaining called ‘issue based’, where each side prepares their issues for discussion with the goal to try and find solutions collaboratively. On January 27 & 28, we will meet with management for ‘issue exchange’. Each side will present their issues and the reasons why the issues are important for the respective party. Interestingly, we have each come to bargaining with some similar or identical issues. We will then determine if there is any data that needs to be collected and who will be responsible for that data collection. Working together we will categorize the issues with common themes. For example, issues related to staffing are categorized together as a group or issues for scheduling, etc. These groupings become the basis for subgroups.

Members from each bargaining team will serve on 2-3 subgroups. During the first two weeks of bargaining, these subgroups will meet and thoroughly discuss the issues from each side assigned to that subgroup. Then we will brainstorm in an effort to find solutions to the issues. Everyday each subgroup reports back to their respective team, we call that debriefing. During debriefing we discuss how some solutions might work and why others may not work for us and what direction we want to take next. Eventually the subgroups work on drafting language for the contract.

When we talk about money, we have done shift differentials and other economics in small groups and wages with full teams, or we have done all economic issues with full teams present.

Each week we try to set a schedule as to when the small groups will meet and when any of our team debriefings will be. The reality is that these schedules are estimations at best, sometimes we are making great progress on issues and want to keep going, sometimes a subgroup might need to leave an issue for awhile and come back to it later. Also, when we take a fifteen-minute break or lunch break, varies everyday.

Our bargaining team wants and needs input from you, our members at every stage of this process. We need you to come to bargaining sessions. We ask that you observe quietly if we are meeting in subgroups or with both teams across the table. If just our team is meeting/caucus, we will ask for your input on what we are discussing and any outstanding issues. We know it is frustrating when you come out and we are not talking about what was scheduled or if we have just gone to lunch, and we ask for your patience as we can’t always be right on the schedule.

We also recognize that, the first two weeks of bargaining, it may seem like ‘nothing is really happening’. Things are happening. At that point, we are working out ideas and getting them ready to put into language for the contract. We need you, our Union co-workers and friends to come then also, so we can bounce the ideas off of you and for moral support.

Because we are either in a team meeting or bargaining from early in the morning into evening, once bargaining starts you will need to come to bargaining to complete any surveys. Our team takes the surveys very seriously and makes our priorities based on survey results. So don’t let someone else decide what’s a priority for your work life, come out and fill out a survey! Finally, management notices how many members come to bargaining and your turnout impacts how good a contract we are able to bargain in terms of language and wages. We don’t expect you to stay for hours but we do appreciate any amount of time you can come out and support your bargaining team.

What You Need to Know about Mandates
By Marian Stokes, RN, 6N, Bargaining Team

Nobody likes to do a mandate. But, as we all know, mandates happen. Until we get language or laws to change that, we will have to deal with the issue of mandates. Our contract language says mandates are assigned by inverse seniority, however, there is a point in the process where the nurses can discuss if anyone else is willing to help out the mandated person. Please read the steps below regarding mandates.

More RN staff is needed. None are available from extra shifts, mobile unit, or floats. The NAC or Nurse Manager states someone must stay and asks for volunteers. If one or more nurses volunteer, this is a voluntary double.

No one volunteers to do the double. The NAC or Nurse Manager states an RN will be mandated. At this point, whoever works the double, it is a mandate.

Staff already mandated for 8 hours in the last 14 days are exempt from the mandate. Staff working the shift as an extra shift are exempt from the mandate.

The RNs on that shift can discuss amongst themselves who might be able to stay. If no one agrees to stay, the mandate(s) is assigned in reverse seniority order. The NAC or Nurse Manager should take into account previous overtime exposure (e.g. the last recent mandate on this unit was done by this RN; this RN did a voluntary double that same week) and assign the mandate to the next RN in reverse seniority order.

No one can be forced to give up their seniority rights in the discussion amongst staff.