Labor Relations

RFPU – UW Negotiations Recap for Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Background
This recap details the tenth 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.

Tentative Agreements
The parties tentatively agreed to the following:

Article 4 – Disciplinary Action and Just Cause

  • The parties agreed that when an investigative interview is being conducted that would be made clear and the employee would be informed of their right to representation.
  • If remediated, the program director will remove a focus of concern or explain why it will not be removed.

RFPU Counter Proposals

Article 1 – Definitions
The Union maintains their proposal on the definition of a Day and also withdrew their proposed definition of redeployment.

Article 3 – Childcare
Childcare Fund
The Union reduced its proposal amount for the Resident Childcare Fund from $1,080,000 to $500,000.
Lactation Accommodation
The Union maintains its proposal regarding lactation accommodations.

Article 6 – Fringe Benefits
Meals
In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union proposed that meal reimbursements would be available for all shifts scheduled 8+ hours.
Relocation
The Union proposes striking that programs could approve relocation expense reimbursement consistent with Administrative Policy Statement 34.2 and replaced that language with training programs could determine whether to issue payments as stipends or to reimburse costs for the amount of $3000.

Article 13 – Leave Miscellaneous
The Union reduced the amount of days they were proposing for leaves taken under Parental Leave and Family Medical Leave in the situation where an employee has exhausted their vacation and sick time off balances. The proposal now states that if an employee has less than 14 days, down from 21, of combined available vacation and sick time off, at the end of the first six weeks of each approved leave of absence taken, the Employer will add the necessary days to the remaining balance so that the resident is left with 7 days, down from 14, of sick leave and 7 days, unchanged, of vacation for the remainder of the academic year.

Article 24 – Transportation
Parking During Nights and Weekends
The Union proposed that Residents would be reimbursed for parking during any night or weekend hours, or would not be charged, regardless of time entering the garage.
Multiple-Site Parking
The Union proposed that Residents would be able to be reimbursed for parking at all sites when required to travel to another training site in the same day by submitting receipts.
Bicycle Sustainability
The Union proposed that Residents would have free access to bike cages at all sites where cages exist and the Union withdrew their proposal for a quarterly stipend for Residents who bike.

New Article – Scheduling & Hours
Hours
The Union proposed reducing the extra duty hours pay from $120 per hour to $ 75 per hour.

UW Counter Proposals

Article 6 – Fringe Benefits
Relocation
The Employer proposed creating an annual relocation fund of $30,000 for residents relocating to Seattle from outside the WWAMI Region; Residents from Oregon would have access to up to $2,000 for relocation expenses. The Employer also proposed that the Union would be able to determine appropriate distribution and submit a list to the Employer to distribute via payroll.

Article 22 – Salary/Stipend
Housestaff Salary
In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer proposes to increase the allowance from $2500 to $4500 starting in 2022 for the duration of the successor agreement. Additionally, the Employer proposed that the July 1, 2023 salary schedule increase would increase from 1% to 2%.

Next Steps
The next RFPU and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, June 1, 2022 and will be held virtually.