Labor Relations

UW – SEIU 1199 Negotiations Recap for June 19, 2017

Background

This recap details the 15th session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement between the UW and SEIU 1199. Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

Tentative Agreements

The parties signed tentative agreements to close the following provisions:

  • Article 6 – Bargaining Unit Classes/Definitions
  • New MOU – JLM Workgroup Pertaining to Inpatient Social Work

UW Proposals

Union Activities – UW maintained its interest in clarifying language regarding use of state resources, time off for union activities, and union delegate conduct and training.  SEIU 1199 maintained its interest in retaining current contract language regarding these subjects.

Certification Pay for Respiratory Care Practitioners – The parties executed a tentative agreement on UW’s proposed language stating that respiratory care practitioners who were both hired and receiving certification pay prior to July 1, 2017 for being registered as a Registered Respiratory Therapist (RRT), would continue to receive certification pay but not be eligible for an additional certification premium.  New respiratory care practitioners would need an additional certification on top of an RRT in order to qualify for certification pay, as an RRT is now required for the job.

MOU: Break Relief – UW maintained its proposal that would allow the break relief MOU to expire, as the cost prohibits the expansion of break relief beyond the current acute care dayshift staffing over the next contract cycle.  The staffing required to fund the existing break relief programs is in the fiscal year 2018 budget.

MOU: Negotiation Team – UW withdrew its proposal to pay for all negotiation sessions for a limited 16-member total bargaining team, in favor of paying for the first twelve sessions for 16 designated bargaining team members.

MOU: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion – UW maintained its interest in designating one member to the committee and allowing the committee to make recommendations on training plans going forward.

SEIU 1199 Proposals

Corrective Action – SEIU 1199 proposed that union members be entitled to union representation for meetings in which employees are placed on administrative leave or presented with letters recommending their dismissal.  The union maintained its interest in allowing per diem employees to utilize the corrective action process.

MOU: Standby – In response to UW’s proposal, SEIU 1199 proposed language stating that standby and callback should be minimized to the extent possible and not used for predictable absences.  The union proposed language stating that employees who have worked on call within eight hours of the start of their next shift would be allowed to call in sick when too fatigued to work.

In response, UW proposed to integrate values statements regarding minimizing mandatory standby, and proposed language stating that employees who are scheduled to work a shift the day following being on standby can either work or the full shift or work the shift and be automatically placed at the top of the “home early” list.

Airlift Northwest (ALNW) Discussion

The parties discussed proposals specific to the ALNW bargaining unit.  SEIU 1199 presented the following counter-proposals:

  • $700 in education support funds per FTE, per fiscal year
  • Expand paid travel time to include Bremerton, for aircraft out of service language
  • Maintain language stating that employees would be scheduled into the base at which they are hired
  • Maintain nurse replacement language
  • Maintain language stating that workday length shall not be changed without JLM discussion
  • Maintain language stating that uncovered shifts or sick calls at designated bases will be offered to the official duty station nurses first
  • Updates to the precepting definition
  • $4.00 premium for ALNW RNs
  • $3.75 for ALNW float RNs

UW Economic Proposal

UW maintained its previous economic proposals with the following exception:

General Wage Increases – UW proposed general wage increases of two percent on July 1, 2017, one percent on July 1, 2018, and another one percent on January 1, 2019.

Next Steps

The next UW-SEIU 1199 bargaining session is scheduled for June 22.