Bargaining Update - 10/10/08

I thought this would be a good day to talk about -

Rumor control.

It seems that there is a lot of misinformation going around about what's been happening with the bargaining. I would like to take a moment to address some of the stuff that has passed my ears:


1) We've settled the contract.

Uh, No. That's why we are still at the bargaining table. We have achieved some tentative agreements on some of the non-economic issues As far as the main economic issues are concerned, we have come to an agreement on the approximate amount of money (the "money bucket", as CHW calls it) to be spent over the life of the contract. Now we have to come to a mutual agreement on how the funds will be distributed for things like wages, benefits, etc.. Which leads me to number...


2) We've settled on wages/pay scales.

Again, no. Not yet. We disagree on how the money should be used for wages - this is very important, as the way that the bucket is divided for each year of the contract will decide what our pay scales and yearly raises will be. We have given CHW a wage/scale proposal, and they have come back with a counter proposal. We are not very far apart, with the exception of how to place wages/scales for the "outliers" (see my post for 10/08/08) CHW still feels that they have to pay lower wages for these areas. We believe that they can do better, and we will show them how to do more at these facilities and stay within the "bucket".

3) UHW is going on strike anyway.
Uh-uh, no,no, no. You notice that I did not say "never". Nothing is 100% never, but unless things totally break down, WE are not striking CHW. Nor are we striking...

4) WOODLAND HEALTHCARE !

Our focus is to get this contract done. If, and only if, negotiations totally break down would we even consider such an action. We are in a good position now. We want to keep on pushing onward and upward!

5) We will all be paid the same amount of money as our sisters and brothers at Kaiser hospitals.
Our goal is to have all of our union sisters and brothers being paid salaries comparable to the Kaiser (a.k.a the "industry leader") scales. The "money bucket" will allow us to move considerably closer to Kaiser over the life of the contract. As I said before, they (CHW) are much more willing to do that for the large central LA and Bay area hospitals than they are to the others.

More about this later, along with my observations on what I see coming from the division between SEIU vs. UHW.

Stay Strong,
Joe Thomas