March 20, 2009

Legacy brought forth a non-economic proposal that consisted of the number of supervisors/non-members, include residents as an exemption under the contract, mandatory meetings and pay process, shift differentials (when they start for 2nd and 3rd shift), uniform reimbursement rather than company providing uniforms, converting the tech bonus to a CE reimbursement fund and should supplemental employees be terminated if not worked in 180 days.

Legacy wants some flexibility in the manager titles under Article 1, Section 1 to meet needs of growth of the Hospital. The Union bargaining committee raised concerns of residents being scheduled in place of bargaining unit members.  Both sides can understand where the other is coming from and had good discussions, but no agreements were reached.

Legacy wants to have meetings that will require folks to attend.  They specified that it would not include staff meetings and gave examples of EPIC training and harassment training. They also proposed mandatory meetings would be paid at time and a half for a minimum of 2 hours or whatever was worked rather than 4 hour minimum call in language. These would be mandatory to attend whether it’s a day off or causes a split shift.  We had lots of discussion, but no agreements were reached.  Labor wants to get feedback on this before any agreement is reached.

Legacy proposed a cap of 180 days for a supplemental employee to be on the books before they terminate the employee and remove from the roster.  Discussion resulted in extending that timeline to 1 year for pharmacy interns. Legacy proposed clarifying that supplemental employees are not eligible for Legacy benefits in Article XVI, Section 6.

Legacy proposed consistent language with their policy and SEIU of start times for 2nd and 3rd shift.  2nd starts at 3pm and 3rd starts at 11pm and the majority of the employees shift must be in that shift to qualify for the differential pay.  There were some increases addressed but no agreements were made on the rates.

Legacy wants to move to a reimbursement for scrubs/jackets with a maximum number of scrubs/uniforms a year depending on part-time or full-time employment.  They proposed a $30 reimbursement per uniform.  No agreement was made as the union bargaining committee wanted to research the average cost of uniforms.

We did agree to remove article XV in the pharmacist contract as it is redundant and covered by the board of pharmacy.  However, we asked that the pharmacists have the option to form a committee (as established in Article XV, Section 2) should the need arise.

We did agree to clarify that 10 hour employees would receive OT if they are called in to work a 5th day.  This is already being practiced but was not written into the contract under Article IV, Section 1(f).

Our next bargaining session is scheduled for 3/25/09 where we expect an economic proposal from Legacy and we will try to come to agreement on the non-economic items listed above.