This week, our elected bargaining team began negotiating with AHS management. We kicked off bargaining with rallies at Highland and Fairmont to show our unity and our support for our bargaining team. Over the two days of bargaining, we presented 24 proposals, and AHS presented none.
Our priorities are clear: improved care for our patients, improved safety and working conditions for our workers, staffing that meets the needs of our community and our workplaces, an end to layoffs and cuts to benefits, and wages that allow our workers to get ahead in the expensive Bay Area. If we stick together, we will win.
Our proposals included, among others:
Raises to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living in the Bay Area
An end to layoffs NO cuts to benefits
Safer working conditions, with safer chemicals and better ventilation
Investigations of and protections against discrimination
Increased staffing to increase worker safety and improve patient care, including a new medical / psychiatric care unit at Fairmont, more break nurses, and protections for charge nurses
Clothes for discharged homeless patients
On-site child care
Better access to PTO, sick leave / leaves of absence, and modified duty
Purple Up Every Wednesday to Support Your Bargaining Team
1021 members of the AHS chapter rally outside of Highland Hospital to support their bargaining team on January 21.