Local 5105 Bargaining Update, May 31, 2023
First of all, everyone did a fantastic job stickering up yesterday! Our goal was to put pressure on management, and managers ordering members remove union stickers meant that they clearly felt that pressure. We are asking all members that were ordered to remove their union stickers to let a member of the Local Executive Board know AND write a brief statement documenting the situation. We have a legal right to wear them, and if necessary, we will file grievances and NLRB charges. If you were not ordered to take them off, please continue to wear them today as we work to settle a strong contract.
Yesterday, we were able to make substantial progress on some key issues. We have tentative agreements on improved health and safety and staff development language. We were also able to beat back a vast majority of their regressive changes to the per-diem language. We have a tentative agreement for on-call language, including sleep time for the OR and limits to the hospitals ability to cover vacancies in the first call with second call. We are also close on the MASC/OR and MBU/Stroking clinical grouping language, though we still have substantial work to do on the employers ICU/2N clinical grouping proposal.
However, as we approach the 11th hour, we remain VERY far apart on the two biggest issues: STAFFING and WAGES. We are currently proposing 9.5% increases in the first year and 5% for the second and third year of the contract. Management came back with 3.5% in the first year and 2.5% in years two and three. To call that an insult would be an understatement!!
Additionally, the Hospital has made NO MOVEMENT on our staffing proposal, which is critical for our ability to care for our patients. Today is our last scheduled bargaining day. We need everyone who can to continue wearing stickers tomorrow and be on HIGH ALERT for updates!! At our next General membership meeting on June 5th, we will either have a contract that the negotiations committee will be recommending ratification or calling for concerted activity, so we need EVERY member at that meeting. Please be on alert for today’s updates!!
In solidarity,
Your Local 5105 Bargaining Committee