USC Bargaining
Keck/Norris bargaining update #4 (March 29, 2021)
Published Monday, March 29, 2021Dear NUHW members,
Today we reached an agreement on Article 12 floating! No mandatory floating outside the hospitals or clinics covered by our union contract. It also establishes a floating order by seniority for all job classifications. The employer backed off on a request that they be able to skip the floating order in some circumstances.
We are closer to an agreement on the grievance procedure, but the employer is still proposing that the party that loses an arbitration pay all the costs of an arbitration hearing.
We have proposed that employees experiencing harassment be allowed to fight it through the grievance procedure and through government agencies if they want. The employer has still not accepted our proposal and wants to continue banning members from using the grievance procedure and utilizing an outside agency or legal counsel at the same time.
The employer is still maintaining their position that disciplines never expire and can be used against you. This is a critical issue that we can’t bend on.
A running theme has been the Hospital’s desire to limit our ability to go public with our concerns. Today they reiterated their desire that our Union not be able to go to a public agency or the press with health and safety concerns. We cannot stand for the curtailment of our rights.
We have two more days of negotiations this week (Wednesday and Thursday) where we plan on discussing the attendance policy and our proposal around pandemic protections and hazard pay.
We encourage everyone to get involved! If you want to attend one of our zoom bargaining sessions, email me back!
In Solidarity,
Natalie Couch
Radiology Tech, Keck Hospital
NUHW bargaining team