University Hospital Local 5094 Contract Negotiations Update August 12, 2024
We met with University Hospital on August 12th for our third session of negotiations. The Hospital started the session with formally withdrawing the anti-union proposal to delete 17 articles from our contract. We received an email on August 9th following the 5089 negotiations, stating they were withdrawing the proposal and we were able to finally close the book today.
We received economic responses to our proposals today. The Hospital has moved on tuition reimbursement, coming up to $5000 from our current $3700 maximum for tuition reimbursement. They rejected our proposal to use our tuition reimbursement for the payment of student loans. We countered that proposal today with a higher amount for tuition reimbursement and a limited amount to be used for student loans.
We continue to push for increased protections for our Per Diem negotiations unit employees while strengthening our language for layoffs and discipline for full and part time employees. We are seeking increased notice of layoffs to provide more time for our negotiations unit employees to find alternate employment. Our grievance and discipline proposals seek to expand our Weingarten protections and eliminate the practice of placing employees on administrative leave without pay during investigations.
The Hospital provided a counter proposal on Juneteenth. They proposed we add Juneteenth to our holiday calendar but reduce our current Float Holidays from six to five in place of Juneteenth. We responded that was unacceptable for our Union and we countered that with our original proposal to add to our holiday calendar and not just swap out what we already have.
We are making progress on Bereavement leave and the Hospital proposed to include brother in law, sister in law, aunt, uncle, niece, and nephew for three days of time in the event of a death in the family. However, the Hospital’s proposal does still include the use of sick time and takes time away from those on 12 hour shifts for time off during this time. This is not true bereavement leave. Our counter proposal included the incorporation of new benefit time and preservation of time off for 12 hour employees.
Our next session is scheduled for August 26th.
Take a moment to show your support to the negotiations team and sign up to be a Contract Action Team member. We need the support of everyone in the unit to be successful in our contract fight. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/local-5094-uh-contract-action-team-signup/
In Solidarity,
HPAE Local 5094 Negotiations Team:
Roshni Danak HPAE Secretary, Judy Vincenty University Hospital Committee Chair, Olivia Valentino-Davis Union Rep, Shaina Filian Union Rep, David Mach Union Rep, Esther Barney Union Rep, and Nicole Raia