November 4th Bargaining Session

UWHA and UW Labor Relations (LR) met for the fourteenth bargaining session on November 4th. Articles 5, 7, 21, 22, and 23 were discussed.

Article 5 (Dues Deduction, Fair Share, and UWHA Membership) consisted of updated language regarding notifying potential candidates and new employees of union representation. 

Article 7 (Grievances) had updated proposals from both UWHA and LR. LR has proposed an introductory paragraph stating the priority to resolve disputes at the earliest opportunity is in the best interest of both the employer and the employee, with a preference to do this outside of the formal grievance procedure. LR wants to also reduce the amount of time UWHA has to file a grievance from 60 days to 30 days from when the incident occurred. It was agreed upon that protection from retaliation should be included; however, disagreement still stands on whether Step 1 of the procedure could be voluntarily skipped.

Regarding Article 21 (Professional Development and Licensing), LR again proposed to eliminate the fund rollover from year to year to “minimize the administrative burden”.  LR then proposed a few new options for disbursing professional development. The first of which is to automatically provide a $350 stipend at the beginning of the academic year, and the second option would be to continue to current reimbursing on an ad-hoc basis. Both options do not include either an increase to the fund or again, the option to rollover the amount between years. UWHA has concerns that transitioning to a stipend would mean the amount would be taxed, which would actually reduce the professional development money residents and fellows would receive per year. Lastly, UWHA continues to advocate for full reimbursement of licenses that are required by programs.

Article 22 (Progression by Training Year) consisted of proposals from LR to remove the charts explaining the progression, due to feedback that it creates more confusion. UWHA continues to assert that it is of extreme importance that when members do a non-acgme research year during residency that their compensation is not reduced when they fall out of the bargaining unit (Separate note: UWHA also continues to assert that these individuals should be added to the bargaining unit). LR has stated that they will do research into what programs require these research years.

Article 23 (Salary) did not include counter proposals from either UWHA or LR; however, UWHA presented an additional packet (see below) with updated data consisting of newly released salary numbers from various institutions. This packet includes data from the top 50 medical school programs in the country, including compensation, housing stipend, retirement benefits, relocation stipend, and additional benefits. LR continues to state that they don’t have enough money to meet our requests for fair compensation.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for Tuesday, November 12th from 3:00-7:00pm at Roosevelt Commons West, Rm. 271. UWHA urges all members to attend.