Ambulatory bargaining update #2 (March 26, 2021)

Published Friday, March 26, 2021

Dear fellow NUHW members,

Today in negotiations we reached several agreements on different articles and also were presented some unacceptable proposals from the company that they have also given to our co-workers in the Hospitals.

We reached agreement on three more articles:

Successorship: This is a very important job security provision. In the event any of the clinics are sold or transfer control, they must retain our employment and union contract.

Employment and Income Security: A host of services the employer has committed to us in the event we are laid off or displaced.

Bargaining Unit Work: Supervisors cannot be doing our work and vice versa (this protects our jobs and encourages adequate staffing).

We had discussion on steward’s rights, union access, our grievance procedure, discipline, job vacancies and transfers. The employer proposed several unacceptable items including:

Subcontracting: This is very dangerous. Right now the employer cannot subcontract our work to an outside organization – this is a very important job protection. Today they proposed that at any time, management has the ability to subcontract our work.

Ban on picketing and leafleting: In the past we have voted to stage informational pickets, and leafletted the community to protest egregious moves by the Hospital. These are important tools for us to flex our power and alert the community to wrongdoing by our employer.

Discipline: Right now all disciplines (attendance or otherwise) expire after a calendar year. The employer is proposing that they never leave our record. We cannot stand for this.

In the coming weeks we will be preparing our economic proposal, continue our push to win the free family healthcare that our brothers and sisters in the Hospital currently have, and we want to enshrine protections for ourselves and our patients in the event of a future pandemic.

We have fought and won before, we need to stick together and stay involved.

In Solidarity,
Lucy Lamont
Administrative Assistant
Orthopedic Clinic in HC2