RFPU-CIR: UW Negotiations Recap for April 3, 2025

Background

This recap details the fourth virtual session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and the Resident and Fellow Physician Union-Committee of Interns and Residents/SEIU (RFPU-CIR). Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

Employer Costing

The parties discussed the Employer’s costing. This estimates that Union’s initial proposals would lead to an increased minimum cost of $182 million over the course of the CBA.

UW Initial Proposals

The Employer proposed housekeeping edits only on the following provisions:

Article 11: Washington Family Medical Leave (PFML)
Article 20: Non-Discrimination

The Employer proposed to maintain current contract language in the following articles:

Article 2: Committee Memberships and Hospital Committee
Article 8: Health and Safety
Article 14: Leave – Professional
Article 18: Working Outside of the Training Program
Article 19: No Strikes/No Lockouts

Article 6: Fringe Benefits

The Employer proposed a new structure for the meals benefit. The current structure is a reimbursement model where residents and programs must submit meal purchases and hours worked to the GME office for repayment onto the resident’s Husky Card. Under the Employer’s proposal, all residents receive a lump sum amount on their Husky Cards at the beginning of each month. The UW proposed that the amount each resident receives would be determined based on which of five tiers their program falls into, as set out in the new Appendix A. Residents in each tier would receive the following amounts annually:

Tier 1: $2,100
Tier 2: $1,500
Tier 3: $900
Tier 4: $600
Tier 5: $300

The tiers and meal payment amounts were set on AY24 actuals, where the residents in programs that work the most hours receive more meal payments. This is not a cost savings measure.

NEW Appendix A: Meals

This appendix accompanies the Employer’s meal proposal in Article 6.

Article 13: Washington Family Medical Leave (PFML)

The Employer proposed some minor housekeeping edits to this article. The Employer also proposed removing the program director as someone who the resident may initially make a disability accommodation to, instead the residents would contact the Disability Services Office (DSO) directly. Current language points residents to the program director or DSO. Additionally, the Employer proposed removing the .50FTE requirement to be granted military leave.

Article 22: Salary/Stipend

The Employer proposed renaming this article “Compensation.” The Employer proposed striking the language which states that all residents would be compensated at the same rate regardless of funding source or specialty. The Employer proposed that, if the contract is ratified before June 30, 2025, the UW GME salary schedule would be increased by 1% on July 1, 2025; an additional 1% on July 1, 2026; and another 1% on July 1, 2027. The Employer proposed that, if the contract is ratified before June 30, 2025, the allowance would be increased to $9,000, which is currently $8,500.

Article 26: Duration

The Employer’s initial proposal on duration states that the agreement will be effective upon ratification or July 1, 2025, whichever is later, and remain in effect until June 30, 2028. In this proposal, either party may request negotiation of a successor Agreement starting December 1, 2027, and bargaining would begin no sooner than January 1, 2028.

NEW MOU: Negotiations for the 2028-2031 Agreement

The Employer proposed via email a new MOU regarding negotiations for the 2028-2031 Agreement. The Employer proposed that there will be two full days of bargaining (9am to 5pm) and all other bargaining will be scheduled from 5pm to 7pm. These sessions would be held over Zoom. The Employer proposed that the Union would provide the names of the negotiating team members prior to the first bargaining session, and that the Employer would notify programs of the names of the members who need to be released for bargaining. The Employer also proposed that observers from the bargaining unit may participate in non-speaking roles, unless otherwise agreed upon. Observers would be required to display their full names when bargaining is over Zoom, and would be expected to exit the Zoom meeting when the bargaining team exits. Bargaining sessions would remain closed to the public and press under this proposal.

UW Counter Proposals

Article 1: Definitions
In response to the Union’s proposal to rename the “Chief Resident” position to “Lead Resident,” the Employer proposed that programs may choose to use the term Lead or Executive Resident rather than Chief Resident. The Employer proposed that employees who are designated as Lead or Executive Residents will be entitled to the same compensation and benefits as Chief Resident.

Article 5: Dues Deduction and RFPU Membership
In response the Union’s proposal to allow voluntary payroll deduction to COPE, the Union’s political action fund, the Employer proposed to use the dues deduction language from the SEIU 925 contract. RFPU-CIR is an affiliate of the SEIU national union. The Employer’s proposed language would allow for COPE deductions.

Article 7: Grievance Procedure
The Union’s initial proposal states that the Union would be able to choose to skip Step 3 of the grievance process and go directly to Step 4. In response, the Employer proposed that the Union would be able to skip Step 3 if the committee process of Step 3 was removed, making the new Step 3 mediation with PERC. Additionally, the Employer proposed to add language that if Step 3 was skipped, the Union would have thirty (30) days to move the grievance to Step 4, arbitration. Finally, the Employer proposed that, in cases where a grievance is moved to arbitration and Step 3 was skipped, either party may request a pre-arbitration settlement conference. These conferences would not delay the arbitration process.

Article 9: Housestaff Advisory Committee

The Employer incorporated the Union’s proposed name change to “Joint Labor Management” Committee into this proposal. In response to the Union’s proposal that stated the Committee would meet monthly, the Employer proposed that the Committee would meet twice per academic year. This is an increase from current contract language which says that the Committee will meet “periodically.” The Employer proposed that the meetings would be scheduled at the beginning of the academic year.

Next Steps

The next RFPU-CIR and UW bargaining session will be April 22, 2025. The parties agreed the next session will be held virtually.