Negotiations Recap for July 30, 2012
This recap details the second session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement between the UW and SEIU 925.
SEIU 925 Presentation
SEIU 925 Proposals
- SEIU 925 Administrative Proposal
- SEIU 925 requested a revision to the layoff unit for the Equipment Inventory Office, as it moved from Financial Accounting to Grant and Contract Accounting or Research Accounting and Analysis.
- Contract Proposal: Campus-wide Nonsupervisory
- SEIU 925 presented a new side letter, which notes the union and UW agree to include certain job titles in the SEIU Local 925 University-wide Nonsupervisory Bargaining Unit.
- UW Medical Center Public Safety Officer Premium
- SEIU 925 proposed a pay premium of $1.30 for all UW Medical Center Public Safety Officers who have been trained and qualified to assist clinical staff when requested to properly restrain patients. SEIU 925 noted that this is the same premium given to Harborview Public Safety Officers.
SEIU 925 Counter-Proposals
- Listing of Employees
- SEIU 925 proposed amending Article 3.5 to note that UW will provide work location, office phone numbers, and email addresses of all employees with union dues or fair share fee deductions.
- UW responded that it cannot provide employee work location because it is not information collected in the central systems. UW will check on the availability of the other information.
UW Presentation
UW Counter-Proposals
- Job Reclassification Appeals Process
- UW proposed amending SEIU 925’s proposal such that instead of empowering an external hearing officer to authorize newly proposed classifications or to instruct the parties to create new classifications, the parties grant them the authority to decide on the “best fit” classification within the parameters of the UW Classification System.
UW Responses
- UW responded to SEIU 925’s earlier proposal to align pay of Airlift Northwest dispatchers with that of UW Police Department dispatchers.
- UW reported that further research indicated that the two jobs are profoundly different, and that the responsibilities and scope of work for Airlift Northwest dispatchers are more focused, where those of UW Police Department dispatchers are more broad and varied. UW noted that the difference in salaries reflects this, and as such it is not prepared to align them.
Tentative Agreements
After some negotiating, the parties reached tentative agreements on the following three articles:
- Article 8.17: Departmental Labor Management Meetings
- The scope of topics discussed at joint labor-management meetings will be expanded to include all departmental subjects, but release time for employees requesting to attend such meetings will be subject to their department’s operational needs.
- Article 29: Contract Distribution
- UW will submit the electronic version of the contract to SEIU 925 prior to posting it online, and each department will maintain a paper contract that is accessible to all SEIU 925 members. Also, UW will no longer send a letter to every new SEIU 925-represented employee informing them of their dues obligations, and instead will send dues deduction cards upon request.
- Side Letter: Contract Consolidation
- UW and SEIU 925 will form a collaborative work group to consolidate all SEIU 925 contracts into one document by December 31, 2012.
Further Dialogue
SEIU 925 presented research on preceptor pay for Respiratory Care Practitioners in other local hospitals, noting its opinion that such pay is warranted at UW Medical Center.
UW raised the question of whether or not clinical instructors are responsible for training students or new employees, and asked for additional clarification from SEIU 925 as to who they are requesting should receive preceptor pay.
Next Steps
The next UW/SEIU 925 bargaining session is scheduled for August 10.