If you've been following the service unit's negotiations with the hospital's administration, you'll know that the service unit has proposed a retroactive payment of 3% back to July 1st of 2007 [see Bargaining Update News on our website: enloemedicine.org]. This retro pay proposal is only for the raise the administration should have given us, but refused "because we're negotiating." This raise comes from their bogus market survey of small, low-paying, non-union hospitals.
Another type of "retro pay" folks are talking about is a payment that would go all the way back to 2004 when we won the election to be represented by SEIU-UHW. If you remember, the Board of Trustees and the senior management of our hospital tried to bust our union by using stall tactics, taking appeals all the way to the Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, where the judges basically laughed our administration out of the court. They were forced to finally sit down and start negotiating with us.
Our Board and Sr. Mgmt. has had a habit of spending millions of dollars fighting their workers' unions...all wasted money that could have been used to pay their employees the same kinds of wages other hospital workers in the north state now receive. Perhaps this is 'water under the bridge', but many of us are not just angry at OUR administration's bad decisions, but would like other hospital administrations, who are thinking of likewise fighting their workers, to have second thoughts. Our country's labor laws are skewed against labor [!!!], but in favor of business [go figure!]. Bad administrators never get truly fired or punished for their bad decisions, but instead "step down" or retire, AND get a very lucrative severance package.
A 'disciplinary' retro payment might convince the next anti-union hospital administration to more quickly begin negotiations with their workers.
But one thing we must all keep in mind is that the administration will probably throw this disciplinary retro into their 'financial basket' which would include our wage proposal, along with health insurance, retirement, PTO adjustments, and other 'economic' proposals. Then they would hope WE would fight amongst OURSELVES over how to divvy up the amount of money they would say is available. They'd be hoping some of us would reject the 'less' important stuff, and push for just the wage proposal, which is probably what happened to our RNs when they negotiated with our administration a couple of years ago. Its easy to do. Our minds salivate just thinking of 'all that money'. But let's keep our eyes on the big prize: Industry Standards. Believe me, other hospital workers here at Enloe and all over the state are watching us and counting on us.
...Still...there must be a way to discipline the Board and the old guard Sr. Mgmt....
2 comments:
I agree that we need to keep our eye on the prize and that's the industry standard staffing, wages and benefits that we deserve and not go the way of our misguided administration who chase their staff, community and patients into a corner just to prove that they have the power over others and that they are right. We could get a one time big check from our board or we could invest the time and money into raises and benefits not mention proper staffing that will be ongoing. I suggest that we have the UHW research department calculate how much money our leaders stole form their employees by paying them substandard wages and benefits. How much have our betters stached away for say their tower or garage project. This is what we have given up to these greedy bastards. Now they have to give up and give out the fair staffing and those wages that other hospitdals in the north state have given their employees. Don't let them tell us that it's not the Enloe Way to pay industry standards. We know the Enloe way is to pay low wages and perpetuate low staffing. We know that they, our board will stop at nothing to stop the union and the good that we try to and that if they give us standards they will have to give them to the rest of it's employees. So, to our nonunion coworkers I say ; don't think that administration owe you nothing. They owe you the same fair industry standards that we in the service department are fighting for. I we stand together we will win together. If we side with administration they will stab you in the back because they think only of themselves and the bottom line. Will your loyalty be rewarded by the management that has outsourced, laid off, ignored, under paid, under staffed. harassed for being pro union, endured CEO after CEO who comes and leave with bags of money and leaves the hospital no better off than when they arrived and alienated community, patients and ruined morale at this once gem of a hospital. So, why would we work against the union with an admin. that care little for patient, staff or the truth other than the Enloe way. What is this Enloe way?Think about it.
I think that the hospital's administration should be fined or somehow punished for what they did to Enloe employees and the community of Chico spending all those millions fighting the government's decision for almost four years!
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