RFPU – UW Negotiations Recap for Wednesday, May 4, 2022
Background
This recap details the eighth virtual session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and the Resident and Fellow Physicians Union (RFPU). Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.
RFPU Counter Proposals
Article 1 – Definitions
In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union maintains their definition of a day as a 24 hour period beginning at midnight and maintained their definition of redeployment as an unexpected change of schedule, location of work, or adding shifts for a trainee to meet the needs of the healthcare system.
Article 3 – Childcare
UW Children’s Centers
The Union maintains that residents would be designated as critical hires.
Childcare Fund
The Union maintains their proposal to increase the child care fund to $1,080,000 per year .
Lactation Accommodation
The Union maintained their previous proposal.
Article 4 – Disciplinary Action and Just Cause
The Union maintains that a Focus of Concern would be grievable under this article and that programs must post the names of CCC members and share what is discussed with residents.
Article 6 – Fringe Benefits
Wellness and Counseling Services
The Union maintains that if an employer-provided appointment is not available then the GME office would reimburse for out-of-pocket costs.
Meals
The Union decreased the in-house 8-hour shift or longer, or on home-call meal reimbursement proposal from $20 to $18. The Union also decreased their proposal for on-call, in-house 24-hour shift reimbursement amount to a flat $30 where they had proposed $30 weekdays and $40 weekends.
Pagers and Cell Phones
The Union maintains its proposal on a device stipend of $800 for the year.
Relocation
The Union maintains its proposal on a maximum relocation reimbursement amount of $3000.
Health Stipend
The Union proposed that Residents would receive $1000 per year to cover the costs of maintaining personal wellness as a lump sump on first paycheck of the academic year.
Local Community Relations
The Union proposed that the Employer would make meaningful efforts to purchase from locally owned and BIPOC businesses.
Article 7 – Grievance Procedure
Definition
The Union maintained their proposal to make a non-reappointment decision subject to the grievance procedure.
Filing and Processing
The Union maintains their proposal for 90 days to file a grievance.
Panel of Arbitrators
The Union maintains that a coin flip would decide which party strikes the first name on a list of arbitrators.
Article 13 – Leave Miscellaneous
The Union maintains their proposal that new parents are encouraged to seek needed accommodations to their schedules and responsibilities three to six months after a new child enters the family. Additionally, the Union maintains their proposal that if an employee has exhausted their vacation and sick time off balances the Employer would provide the Resident with an additional 14 days of sick time off and up to 7 days of vacation.
Article 16 – Leave Vacation
Definition
The Union maintains their proposed definition of a vacation day to be from 12 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
Post-call Day
The Union also maintained their proposal that a post-call day is not a vacation day and no portion of the hours between 12 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. would be worked by Residents.
Vacation Time Off
The Union maintains that Residents would receive 28 days of paid vacation at the start of each one year appointment period and any unused vacation would be, at the individual Resident’s discretion, be paid out or rolled over into the next appointment period.
Article 22 – Compensation
Chief Resident/Fellow Allowance
The Union proposed reducing the per month allowance from their earlier proposal of $750 to $500.
Housing Stipend
The Union proposed an annual housing stipend of $11,400 to be paid monthly. This was a reduction of the Unions previous proposal for an annual housing stipend of $13,200. The current stipend is $2,400 annually.
The Union maintained all other previous proposals for salary increases.
New Article: Scheduling, Hours, Patient Care
Scheduling Release
The Union proposed removing their originally proposed sentence that GME would strongly encourage distribution of complete schedules one hundred and twenty days prior to the rotation start date for those programs with capacity to do so.
Hours
The Union reduced the amount of pay for additional hours worked from $125 to $120 per hour.
Patient Safety
The Union maintained its previous proposal and proposed adding that Residents would not be retaliated against for reporting patient safety or patient census concerns.
UW Counter Proposals
Article 10 – Leave Bereavement
In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer proposes language edits to accomplish the same goal as the Union with fewer words. As well as adding that Residents needing extra time to attend a funeral or memorial service would qualify for the 2 additional days of Bereavement Leave.
Article 21 – Professional Development and Licensing
Structure
The Employer proposed to increase the Allowance amount from $400 to $425 per academic year. The Employer also proposed that if a program switched to a stipend option, then each Resident who has accumulated rollover funds would be paid out the balance or given the opportunity to use the remaining funds.
Required Certifications
The Employer accepted the Union’s proposal that Residents who are joining a UWSOM clinical training program as an R1 and took the USMLE/COMLEX Step III before their appointment start date due to a H1B visa requirement would be able to be reimbursed by the residency program.
Next Steps
The next RFPU and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 11 and will be held virtually.