More than 100 elected members of the SEIU-UHW Northern California Oversight Committee will be meeting with Kaiser management today in Oakland to discuss issues related to the potential layoff and redeployment of their co-workers. The meeting was scheduled last week, after management had cancelled a similar meeting that was to be held on September 30.
The session will be held on the same day that more than 200 on-call Kaiser workers had been slated to lose their jobs. Management agreed to put those notices on hold last week pending further discussions with the union. The SEIU-UHW members on the Oversight Committee remain committed to working with management to prevent all layoffs and make sure that we find quality positions for every SEIU-UHW member.
As reported last week, the Southern California Oversight Committee met with management on October 1. The main points from that meeting were:
- We have already protected the jobs of 167 SEIU-UHW members (out of 298 total position eliminations in the South).
- The committee decided to send a letter to management formally requesting that they freeze this process and asking for alternatives to any position eliminations.
- The committee also decided to send management an information request to tell us exactly which workers have taken new positions, what open positions remain that they are trying to fill, and whether any subcontracting was underway where management has identified positions for elimination (which we oppose 100 percent).
The South Committee will be scheduling its next meeting with management this week, pending the evaluation of how many union members volunteered for the VSIP package. Once the VSIP process is complete, management will start to notify SEIU-UHW members who are removed from the list of impacted employees. Stay tuned for updates on all bargaining, including today's meeting in Oakland.
Three-Percent Pay Raises Go into Effect
SEIU-UHW contract delivers for union members
Thanks to our contract, all SEIU-UHW members who work for Kaiser Permanente are receiving 3 percent pay raises this month.
In accordance with the collective bargaining agreement between Kaiser Permanente and SEIU-UHW, all Kaiser workers in Northern California started earning a 3 percent across-the-board salary increase on Oct. 11, 2009. Members will see this raise in their October 30 paycheck. Southern California workers received their 3 percent pay raise on October 1. The first part of that raise arrived in last week's October 9 paycheck.
"While we have been focused on the challenge posed by the layoff threats, this is a positive reminder that it is our contract above all else that matters," said Shirley Shirlee, who chairs the SEIU-UHW Kaiser Division Steward Council. "We should keep that in mind as we get ready for the campaign for Contract 2010."
On April 1, 2010, our contract will deliver an additional 2 percent pay raise for all workers. Guaranteed pay increases are one of the most important benefits of being in SEIUUHW. In coming weeks, we will begin our preparations for our 2010 contract negotiations with management, which will establish our raises for future years.
"In this economy most people aren't talking about getting raises; they're just happy to be holding on to their jobs. Our raises show the power of our union. Even in tough times we continue to make progress," says Jeremiah Claar, who works as a mobility coach for Kaiser Vallejo and Napa Solano.
Steward Goes to Bat, Two More Union Members are Safe
Santa Clara EVS workers converted to full-time employees
SEIU-UHW members who work at Kaiser Permanente have been fighting on all fronts to save jobs every way possible. Our informational picketing campaign and bargaining efforts play out on a large scale. But our battles--and our victories--come in all sizes, and every one of them matters.
Take the recent victory for a pair of EVS workers at Kaiser Santa Clara--a victory effort led by their SEIU-UHW steward Dino Pereira. The two workers, both on-call employees have been with Kaiser for more than a year, were scheduled to lose their positions. But Pereira didn't think they should be treated as on-call employees, and he pressed his managers to convert the two to fulltime benefitted positions.
He submitted two conversion requests for the workers, which were denied by management because they said that they did not fit the criteria for conversion. Pereira disagreed with management's interpretation, researched the case further, and found a hole in the decision. He asked for a follow-up meeting, which lasted for nearly two hours.
But it was well worth the effort. Management conceded the case and approved the conversions. The result: two more union members with guaranteed jobs and full-time benefits.
"I believed--and still believe--that all my co-workers should become benefitted employees after their 90-day probationary period," Pereira says. "They work hard for our patients and for the success of Kaiser. And as a union steward, I am totally committed to supporting my members in their need for strong union representation."
Well said, Dino, and well done.