University of Washington Human Resources

WFSE – UW Negotiations Recap for Thursday, August 18, 2022

Background
This recap details the fifth virtual session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and WFSE. Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

Tentative Agreements
The parties tentatively agreed to the following:

Article 17 – Vacations
• Housekeeping edits were made to this article only. Article 17 details the accrual, scheduling, maximums, use, and cash-out of accrued vacation time off.

Article 24 – Unpaid Holidays for a Reason of Faith or Conscience
• Housekeeping edits were made to this article only. Article 24 details how unpaid time off would be granted for a reason of faith or conscience for up to two workdays per calendar year.

Article 30 – Work Related Injury Leave
• The parties agreed to strike that Employees would need to provide proof of continuing disability for unpaid status for up to six months. Also, that employees would not need Employer approval to avoid loss of seniority or change in progression start date for leave without pay exceeding six months.

Article 53 – Washington Family Medical Leave Program
• Housekeeping edits were made to this article only. Article 53 details the parties agreement to follow Washington State Family and Medical Leave Program (RCW 50A) and the University will provide supplemental benefits.

Article 56 – Union Membership Dues Deduction, and Status Reports
• The parties agreed to current contract language.

Article 58 – Term of Agreement
• Housekeeping edits were made to this article only. Article 58 details the effective dates for the successor agreement between UW and WFSE.

WFSE Counter Proposals

MOU – Critical Recruitment and Retention Wage Increases
In Response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union proposed that if an agreement was reached by the end of August 2022, then the effective date would be August 1, 2022. If an agreement is reached after August 2022 is over, then the effective date would be the next available pay period. The Union also proposed to include a list of job classifications provided by OFM 736 list. Finally, the Union proposed an 8-range increase.

UW Initial Proposals

Article 25 – Absence Due to Family Care Emergencies
The Employer proposed housekeeping edits and proposed expanding the types of time off or credit and employee could use in response to a family care emergency.

Article 26 – Civil/Jury Duty Time Off and Bereavement Time Off
The Employer proposed housekeeping edits and proposed including that still birth or miscarriage would qualify for Bereavement Time Off.

Article 28 – Inclement Weather and Suspended Operations
Suspended Operations
The Employer proposed to specific that this section applied to employees in essential positions that are not conducive to telework. Additionally, the Employer proposed striking the qualifiers associated with employees using unpaid time off, previously called using leave without pay.

Article 34 – Performance Evaluation
The Employer proposed striking the sentence in the first section regarding the supervisor’s failure to complete an annual performance evaluation being construed to mean the employee performed satisfactorily when there are a multiple of reasons why a performance evaluation may not have been completed and failure does not necessarily mean that performance was satisfactorily.

Article 38 – Seniority, Layoff, Rehire
The Employer proposed housekeeping edits throughout the article.
Employment Option
The Employer proposed that a funded vacant position within the same job classification within 0.2 FTE status and layoff unit would be included in the employment options for employees affect by a reduction in force. This proposed option would follow a vacant position within the same job classification, FTE, and layoff unit.

Article 41 – New Employees
The Employer proposed to include that new employee orientations may take place virtually.

New Article XX – Advance Certification/Registration Pay
The Employer proposed a new article XX to include Biomedical Electronics Technician job series in addition to the Hospital Central Services Tech series, mentioned in MOU – Hospital Central Services Technicians, and Surgical Technologists, mentioned in MOU – Surgical Technologists. Additionally, these job classifications would receive a one dollar and twenty-five cents hourly premium when certified in a specialty area by a national organization.

Article 45 – Compensation, Wages, and Other Pay Provisions
Annual Salary Adjustment
The Employer proposed that employees move two steps every twelve months regardless of which step the employee starts at.
Employee Recruitment and Retention (R&R) Step Increases
The Employer proposed to move this subsection into its own section.
Recruitment/Retention Compensation
The Employer proposed to rename this section Job Profile Recruitment/Retention Increases.
Weekend Pay
The Employer proposed to memorialize the contents of MOU – HMC and UWMC EVS Custodians Weekend Premium by including in this section that all hours worked on weekends by employees in the following classifications at Harborview Medical Center and UW Medical Center-Montlake Campus shall include a weekend pay premium of one dollar and fifty cents ($1.50): Custodian, Custodian Lead, Custodian Supervisor 1, Custodian Supervisor 2.
Custodian Compensation
The Employer proposed the NEW MOU – Hospital Custodian Series at the previous session, Tuesday, August 16, 2022. Readers will find a summary of that proposal in that update; this section was proposed by the Employer to be struck in lieu of the new MOU.

MOU and Side Letters
The employer proposed to only retain the following MOU’s and Side letters as described below

MOU – HMC and UWMC EVS Custodians Weekend Premium
The Employer proposed to memorialize the contents of this MOU into Article 45 – Compensation, Wages, and Other Pay Provisions.

MOU – Salary Overpayment Recovery
The Employer proposed to move this MOU into the body of the agreement as a new article.

MOU – Scholarship Fund for Medical Center Employees
The Employer proposed to continue this MOU for another two years.

The Employer proposed housekeeping edits only on the following provisions:
• Article 23 – Shared Leave
• Article 29 – Military Duty Time Off & Leave
• Article 46 – Health Care Benefits Amounts
• Side Letter A – City of Seattle Minimum Wage
• Side Letter F – Tracking Discrimination and Bias
• Side Letter G – U-PASS
• MOU – UW Medicine Pre-Scheduled Voluntary Double-Time Shift Incentive
• MOU – Leave of Absence WFSE President

Next Steps
The next WFSE and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Monday, August 22, 2022 and will be held virtually.