Local 5185 Contract Highlights, 2021
WHAT MANAGEMENT WANTED AND WHAT WE DEFEATED
Per diems to become completely at will employees
Initial wage proposal of 0.5% per year
Health insurance: increases of up to 35% in employee contributions per year.
Peri-op forced overtime to finish cases on call – defeated
Increase in the amount of agency (non-union temp) workers permitted by contract
Nurses with less than 1 year being mandated to take charge or float
Additional 15 days to transfer to a new position for which you won a bid (from 30 to 45)
Permanent shift rotation – meaning the Hospital could switch your shift without your consent
Nurses with more than 25 years service being mandated to float
All employees with more than 25 years service being mandated to work weekends
Removal of limits on mandatory overtime
Permanent reduction of Emergency Room RN numbers from 5-6-4 to 4-6-4. Instead 18 month reduction to 4-6-4 due to reduced ED census with mediation and arbitration to revisit numbers in January 2023.
Current Contract: ALL language in contract remains unless specifically changed in the tentative agreements.
*Change in downstaffing: Volunteers first. Then Agency (non contract), then bonus, OT, per diem who have met their requirement, agency (contract), part time on extra shifts, then involuntary full time on a rotating basis. Downstaffing practice from ICU (on “taking turns” and even distribution of downstaffing) for whole house
*You may be downstaffed after working 50% of your shift
*compliance with state law on flu vaccine, military leave, and non-emergency foreseeable use of NJ sick leave (can be declined)
Health Insurance Plan Changes:
- Maintain the current plan without increased contributions or other changes through 12/31/21. Effective 1/1/22, the plan year will be the calendar year. All negotiated changes will become effective 1/1/22.
- All Bi-weekly employee health insurance contributions are pre-tax
All changes below take place in January 2022 and remain static through 2024
- Raise deductible from $750/$1500 to $850/$1,700 (single/family)
- Increase office visit co-pay from $40 to $50
- Increase emergency room coinsurance from 20% to 25%
- Increase in-network coinsurance from 20% to 25%
- Move to Horizon Direct Access network. Overlap with current network is 95%. More information is available at https://doctorfinder.horizonblue.com/dhf_search (Click continue as guess then choose medical. Select Direct Access as your plan and choose a zip code and then a provider. See also: https://www.horizonblue.com/members/plans/medical-plans/horizon-direct-access.
All changes below take place in January 2022 and bi-weekly increases go up in January 2023 and January 2024
- Employees now contribute approximately 20% of the cost. This is well below national averages. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2020, the average employee contribution for family coverage was 33%.
- Accordingly, BMC and HPAE agree to an annual increase in contributions of 20% to for employee only coverage and for all tiers of dependents coverage (employee plus 1 and employee plus 2 or more).
MANAGEMENT INITIALLY PROPOSED:
*SINGLE COVERAGE TO INCREASE BY 35% PER YEAR
$178 for full time per pay period by 2024
*DEPENDENT COVERAGE TO INCREASE BY 25% PER YEAR
Employee + Spouse $358 and employee + child(ren) $263 per pay period by 2024. Read more