On Tuesday, June 9, AHS management gave our RN unit a new proposal. Simply put, the proposal was more than one hundred pages of direct assaults on our rights and protections as union members.
AHS proposed to:
Eliminate all references to Title 22 in the RN contract, as an attack on our ability to fight for the staffing ratios that keep our quality of care high and our members safe at work
Take away or renegotiate contract language it took us years to fight for and win, including Article 2, which prohibits discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of union activity, and protects whistleblowers
Limit floating holidays and holiday pay to an 8-hour maximum, even for those who work 10- or 12-hour shifts
Eliminate modified duty
Take away your ability to roll over ed leave
Stop reimbursing for BLS/ACLS/PALS taken outside of AHS
Quit paying in service hours for BLS/ACLS/PALS regardless of where it is taken
Increase healthcare costs to employees: 10% freedom of choice employee contribution, 10% for all Kaiser plans employee contribution, 5% HSA Independence employee contribution
They also rejected both our proposal to extend the joint employer education fund to the RN unit, so that GU members could use it to become nurses, and our proposals for no layoffs, reduction in hours, or reduced budgeted positions.
At this time of crisis, AHS’ priorities must be to protect its workforce and provide high-quality healthcare to promote the public good. Instead, they’re trying to hurt us as workers and cripple our union. We all need to fight against AHS’ mismanagement and misguided priorities.