Early moves.

The first meeting of the bargaining team went well. It’s a big team, even allowing for a few of our members who weren’t able to make it, but on the whole, the meeting showed the focus and determination that we need to get a deal done.


Our first meeting with management is Monday, August 1. Details on time and place coming soon!


The question everybody has for us at this point is, “So, what are you going to ask for?” Without getting into too many specifics (it wouldn’t be prudent to being discussing proposals we haven’t actually made yet), there are a couple things that we’ll be focusing on. These were the big issues brought up time and time again in the bargaining surveys.


The general consensus among the RN membership is that something has to be done with the sick time situation. At this point there many directions we can go, and we’re still going over all the options. Some members think the best thing is to tweak the bucket system (although the language used is substantially more colorful than “tweak”). Others have stated that they’d like to take a good look at moving to a PTO system like the general chapter has, provided there’s no loss in available time off. Still others are pushing to go back to the old system.


Whatever direction we go in, a solution will only work if it addresses the problems we’ve had over the past three years with the current system. So, now we’re working on just what those problems are exactly, and what (if anything) worked well. Above all, we think that people should be rewarded for good attendance practices, as opposed to punishing everybody for the bad behavior of a few.


The other issue we’re working on is a wage restructuring proposal that was first floated in the last wage reopener. At that time, it became pretty clear the issue was too big to handle in that forum; too many details to cost out, and we needed to get a deal done so as to get ready for the big contract table just a few months away. Management seemed receptive to our proposal, so now it’s a matter hammering out the details and seeing what we can negotiate.


Beyond that, there are several other things we’re looking at proposing changes to, but we’ll wait to post them until a proposal is actually on the table.


In the mean time, if you have a pet peeve/proposal/idea you’d like to see brought up, discuss it with a member of the bargaining team. Or post it here, if you like.