Closing in on a deal....but not quite yet.

Today (October 14) is the last scheduled day of bargaining, and I don’t think it will be the enough. Today we don’t expect to get to a final deal that we can bring to the members. Future bargaining dates are coming down the pipe, but nothing’s been set yet. The proposed elimination of daily overtime is off the table. The time limit on getting monetary awards from grievances has been doubled, from 60 days to 120 days. We’re very close to implementing some major streamlining measures in the grievance process itself. We finally put across our wage proposal, and are waiting to hear back from management on that. Sick leave is still being hashed out. There’s no question, however, that whatever we come away with will be better than what we currently have; the question is just how much or how little improvement we’ll get. The proposals range from somewhat radical change (e.g., converting to PTO) to incremental change (e.g., increasing the intermittent bank/accrual above what it currently is). Still on the table are management’s proposal to authorize subcontracting out bargaining unit jobs (which we are firmly against), and elimination of shift differential for sick leave/vacation/bereavement/jury duty/education leave (which we are firmly against). Our proposal to bring in the SEIU/UHW Education Fund, which should be a no-brainer, is still stalled, in large part because Jeanette Louden-Corbett remains out on sick leave. We’ve gotten very close on putting together a Low Census procedure (i.e., a call-off program) that is fair and effective. We’ve also modified the policies on scheduling and disciplining SANs that is a definite improvement from the existing language. A huge, HUGE proposal that is definitely going to happen is the establishment of Patient Care Committees. Each nursing area will have a committee that will meet regularly, including care providers and management, and work collaboratively to identify and solve problems in the units. Many other hospitals have these, and they generally have the effect of changing the culture of the hospital environment (for the better). That’s been one of our mantras during the entire bargaining process. Just like ACMC management has been saying, we also want to be “The Provider of Choice,” and “The Employer of Choice,” and our proposals reflect that. We’ve also been saying that we want to move away from ACMC having “a culture of punishment.” Although it’s tough to make the idea sound sexy, patient care committees are a big, big deal, provided both sides commit to making it happen. If we can get the rest of the “little” issues off the table, it will enable us to focus on the “big” issues: wages and sick leave. And hopefully we’ll get it done sooner rather than later. Stay tuned.