Ambulatory bargaining update #3 (April 8, 2021)
Published Thursday, April 8, 2021Dear NUHW members,
We had our third session today. We are focused on addressing non-economic issues, and made progress.
We are closer to agreement on Article 5 Job Vacancies – where the employer withdrew their proposal to prohibit employees from applying to new positions if they have disciplines in their file. The employer also moved closer to us on our seniority article.
We are also closer on Article 9 – Grievance Procedure where our timelines are intact. The only hang up is they want the loser of an arbitration to pay for all the costs. This has always been a shared cost in the spirit of collective bargaining – we cannot accept their proposal.
In other areas, they are holding to several unacceptable provisions:
- Ban on picketing / leafletting – this is a fundamental right we need as union members to enforce our contract and go public with concerns we have as staff.
- They have proposed a vague workplace violence provision which erodes our job security
- They moved slightly on the sunset of disciplines to 2 years instead of never. This is positive but not good enough. To clarify, if you received attendance occurrences, they would not expire for 2 years instead of currently 1 year. Not OK.
We have another session tomorrow where we will try to advance these non-economic issues. Then we will begin to craft our economic proposals as a committee.
Stay tuned, and let me know if you want to become involved!!! Our next bargaining dates beyond tomorrow are
April 20 – 10a – 5p
April 21 – 10a – 5p
April 22 – 10a – 5p
In those sessions we will discuss wages and benefits. Very important to have lots of us there to send a strong message. We need to stay together and be ready to fight for what we deserve!
In Solidarity,
Jeeny Nunez Cruz
Scheduling Coordinator – Transplant Clinic