Page One Archive

February 2008 — Page One, Issue 15

FEBRUARY UPDATE: UC AND CNA CONTINUE FACTFINDING

UC and CNA continue to participate in the factfinding process that began last month.  Oral presentations to the fact-finding panel were completed last week and written submissions from both sides were presented on February 13^th.

As we continue to work diligently toward a good agreement for our nurses, we will continue to provide updates as frequently as possible throughout the duration of the proceedings. In the meantime, we are assured in the knowledge that our nurses share our commitment to the professionalism and legacy of outstanding patient care that is a hallmark of what it means to be a UC nurse.

In negotiations with CNA, the University has proposed a three-year contract with negotiations over wages and benefits in 2008 and 2009 as well as:

·         Competitive Wage Increases: UC offered market-based salary increases for nurses at each of its five major medical centers and ten student health clinics.

·         Continued High-Quality Healthcare Benefits at Affordable Cost: UC proposed that nurses receive the same comprehensive healthcare benefits provided to all University employees. These benefits provide a number of healthcare plans at affordable cost to employees, including some plans which offered reductions in costs from 2007 to 2008.   If changes to the health plans are required for 2009, the University proposes to meet and confer with the union over those changes.

·         No Substantive Changes in the Retirement Program: UC has guaranteed that nurses will not have to make contributions to the University’s excellent retirement system through September 2008 and again agreed that the University will not make substantive changes to the plan for the same time period.  If changes to the retirement program are required after September 2008, the University proposes to meet and confer with the union over those changes.

·         A flexible program for Paid Time Off (PTO): The University’s proposal would allow nurses to take more days as scheduled vacation than the current program, providing nurses greater flexibility with their time. One-half (up to six days) of a nurse’s sick leave is put into the PTO bank each year, along with all vacation accrual days; and the other half of the nurse’s sick leave is placed into long-term sick leave bank. If the sick leave time in the PTO bank is not used by the nurse, it remains in their PTO bank for future use as either sick leave or vacation leave. Nurses who are ill for more than 24 consecutive work hours would begin using the long-term sick leave bank. Current nurses could choose to remain in the current sick/vacation program or enroll in PTO.  During factfinding, the University demonstrated that its PTO plan is richer than others that CNA has agreed to in other contracts.  However, CNA continues to oppose allowing current nurses the ability to choose between PTO or the current program.

Additional factfinding sessions will be held in February.  For more information, please visit www.UCNurses.com.