Labor Relations

UW – Coalition Negotiations Recap September 13, 2018

Background

This recap details portions of the fifth coalition session between the UW and SEIU 925, WFSE, and the SEIU 1199NW Research/Hall Health Bargaining Unit.  Economic items will be bargained in coalition, including wages, paid family medical leave, transportation, etc.

Recaps are published online on each Union’s negotiation update page:

Employer’s Economic Proposals

UW put forth its first economic package proposal in which all provisions would need to be accepted in their entirety, and the Union would withdraw remaining economic proposals.  Provisions included:

Diversity and Inclusion – In response to the Union’s proposal, UW proposed to make available to the Unions the annual assessment report on University-wide diversity metrics that is prepared for the Board of Regent’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion subcommittee.  The report will be prepared by the University’s Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity (OMA&D).

U-PASS – In response to the Union’s proposal, UW proposed that the parties would work together to engage the City of Seattle as well as King County on specific initiatives in which any cost savings generated would be used to reduce the out-of-pocket costs of the employee U-PASS.

Salary Overpayment – The Employer proposed to move its salary overpayment proposal to an MOU with consistent language across each Union’s contract.

Vacation Leave – UW rejected the Union’s proposal to change the vacation accrual schedule to match the Employer’s professional staff program.

Hours of Work – UW withdrew its proposal stating that the Employer would be able to adjust an overtime-eligible employee’s daily start and/or end time by two hours.  UW maintained its proposal to eliminate the current process that allows employees assigned to excepted work period positions that do not normally qualify for overtime pay to request overtime if they have been directed to work an excessive amount of hours for an extend period of time, as approved by the Director of HR Operations.

Overtime – UW withdrew its proposal for non-work time (e.g. vacation, paid holiday, etc.) to be removed from the calculation of overtime.

Wages – UW proposed to increase wages across-the-board by 1% on July 1, 2019 and 1% on July 1, 2020.

Market Based Salary Adjustments – UW proposed a one pay range (approximately 2.5%) market based salary adjustment for the multimedia technician benchmark cluster in accordance with the University’s pay philosophy.

Minimum Wage – In response to the Union’s proposal, UW proposed an MOU stating that the Employer would satisfy its duty to bargain prior to making any changes to existing pay in response to the City of Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance.  The proposed MOU states that the parties agree that the ordinance does not apply to the University of Washington.

SEIU 925’s Economic Proposals

SEIU 925 responded to the Employer’s proposed economic package proposal as follows:

Diversity and Inclusion – SEIU 925 and WFSE maintained their proposal for the Employer to commit $200 million to recruiting, retaining, and promoting underrepresented minority staff and faculty across the University.

The Unions proposed that the Employer would establish a timeline by September 2019 for reaching a goal of 100% participation in cultural responsiveness or cultural competency for all University employees.  By that same date, the Unions proposed that employees involved in hiring processes would be trained in implicit bias, equity, and cultural responsiveness.

The Unions proposed to expand the role of the University’s Bias Incident Advisory Committee to track reports of discrimination, harassment, and retribution, as reported to UCIRO, SafeCampus, Title IX, and any other body where incidents may be reported.

U-PASS & Parking – The Coalition maintained its proposal for all employees to receive a fully subsidized U-PASS.  The Coalition maintained its proposal for the Employer to maintain 2018 parking rates, and provide parking at no cost for employees when they are working shifts before 5:30am, evening or night shifts, or when they are called back to work.

Salary Overpayment – In response to UW’s proposal, the Coalition proposed language stating that the Employer would not be able to recoup an overpayment if not detected within ninety days.  The Coalition proposed language stating that the employee may propose a payment schedule to repay the overpayment and nothing prevents the parties from agreeing to a different overpayment amount or method (besides wage deduction).  If there was any dispute concerning the overpayment, the Coalition proposed that the Employer would suspend attempts to collect until the grievance was resolved.

Vacation Leave – SEIU 925 and WFSE withdrew their proposal to change the vacation accrual schedule to match the Employer’s professional staff program.

Wages – The Coalition maintained its proposal to increase wages across-the-board by 8% on July 1, 2019 and 8% on July 1, 2020.

Minimum Wage – SEIU 925 and WFSE maintained its proposal that would require the UW to continue to follow the City of Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance. Under the proposal, employees’ salaries would be increased to the City of Seattle minimum wage after each yearly inflation adjustment.

Washington Family Medical Leave Program – The Coalition maintained its proposal that the Employer would pay the total premiums associated with the Washington State Family and Medical Leave Program (0.4% of an employee’s pay).

Like Titles – The Coalition modified its proposal to state that should any Union bargain a wage increase (salary adjustments, market adjustments, premium pay rates, etc.) where a like title or job description exists in another bargaining unit, the Employer would apply the increase to all titles uniformly each July and January throughout the contract cycle.

Overtime – SEIU 925 maintained its proposal for all employees to be overtime eligible, and to consider employees regularly assigned to work three twelve hour shifts to be considered full-time for the purposes of calculating overtime.

Respiratory Care Therapists – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 1% for the Respiratory Care Series.

Financial Counselors – SEIU 925 modified its proposal to state that the parties would discuss and complete class specifications for a new Financial Advocate classification series for current FAS employees who primarily do insurance registration rather than insurance verification, with appropriate salary market adjustments, language differential, and temporary salary increases for leading training.

Medical Airlift Communications – SEIU 925 modified its proposal to state that the parties would re-benchmark these positions from Administrative Assistants to Police Dispatchers in future Milliman salary surveys.

Medical Interpreters – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 5% for medical interpreters.  The Union maintained its proposal that HMC interpreters would receive $250 per employee for education and training, as this is the amount given to UWMC interpreters.

Medical and Clinical Laboratory – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 4% for the Medical Laboratory Scientist Series and 4% for the Clinical Laboratory Technician series.

Phlebotomists – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 4% for the phlebotomist series.

Program Support Supervisors – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 2.5% for Program Support Supervisors.

Campus Security Sergeants – SEIU 925 withdrew its proposal regarding range increases for current Campus Security Sergeants.

Sports Equipment Managers – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 12.5% for Sports Equipment Manger 1s and 15% for Sports Equipment Manager 2s.  The Union maintained its proposal for the parties to update the related job class specifications.

Surgical Technologists – SEIU 925 modified its proposed range increases to approximately 2% for Surgical Technologists.

Next Steps

The next UW-SEIU 925 bargaining session is scheduled for September 17 and the next UW-Coalition bargaining session is scheduled for September 18.