Management shows commitment to find real solutions
BREAKING NEWS - In a positive move, Kaiser management has notified SEIU-UHW that they are putting on hold the position eliminations of more than 200 on-call workers until further discussions with the union. This is an important victory for these workers because management had previously taken the position that it would sever their employment as of Monday, October 12. On-call workers do not have redeployment rights under the contract.
More than 70 elected SEIU-UHW members attended the first meeting of the North Bargaining Team in Oakland.
"The leadership of SEIU-UHW has now gotten Kaiser Permanente to put the elimination notices for the on-calls on hold," said Fay Linton, who works at Kaiser Walnut Creek and serves on the elected bargaining team. "These workers can continue to do the work they were hired to do and help Kaiser and our patients. This is a very encouraging sign from Kaiser and a strong first step toward our ultimate goal: protecting every Kaiser job."
The on-call message was delivered by senior Kaiser officials to SEIU-UHW Tuesday afternoon and presented to the elected bargaining team in a conference call last evening. The decision to safeguard these jobs comes just one day after management agreed to meet with the bargaining committee, also next Monday, to discuss other issues related to the threat of layoffs.
Fausto Melara (Kaiser San Francisco) and Eric Bush (Kaiser San Rafael) at the North Bargaining Team meeting held recently in Oakland.
Management had cancelled a previously scheduled meeting with the SEIU-UHW bargaining team last week at the last minute, prompting a strong message from bargaining committee members. Stay tuned for further updates as they become available or visit www.seiu-uhw/kaiser.