Dear WIH employees who are 1199 members,
We want to share a quick update on our negotiations with 1199 SEIU on November 20th.
The current contract will expire in just 9 days. Both sides have agreed to continue our efforts to reach agreement next Monday and Wednesday.
The hospital is fully committed to reaching an agreement before the end of this contract on November 30, and we took critical steps yesterday to focus on what is important. We did that by making significant concessions and compromises and by putting key economic proposals across the table.
- The hospital withdrew multiple proposals in an effort to move us closer to resolution. The proposals we withdrew include the following:
- We withdrew the proposal to eliminate daily overtime.
- We withdrew the proposal to change the role of seniority in hiring.
- We withdrew the proposal to delete expired memorandums of understanding.
- We withdrew the proposal to change tuition reimbursement.
- We withdrew the proposal to apply CNE attendance policy in lieu of current contract language.
- We withdrew the proposal to clean up unit-based temp language.
- We withdrew the proposal to change the paid leave language as it relates to full and regular part-time employees.
- We withdrew the proposal to move 5 job classifications from the Service contract to the Technical contract.
- All the above proposals will no longer be considered as part of these negotiations, and the current contract language will remain. These are major concessions by the hospital to help us all reach agreement on a new contract.
- The hospital has made a proposal that would save your pension plan.
- The hospital is proposing to increase pension contributions from 9.5% to 10.7% of your salary.
- This represents a significant commitment to your retirement security, especially in a fund that has been identified as being in a critically funded status.
- In the current landscape, many employers have shifted away from traditional pension plans, making such a substantial contribution rate notably generous.
- WIH contributing 10.7% of an employee’s salary to a pension plan is exceptional and underscores the hospital’s dedication to supporting its employees’ long-term financial well-being.
- This proposal increases the stability of your retirement benefits and can provide you greater financial security upon retirement.
- The hospital made a proposal to increase wages in 2025 and 2026 for every step and longevity scale and offered other wage increases.
- Additionally, the hospital proposed wage increases in areas that currently are below the market/below what other similar organizations are paying.
- We also proposed increasing the weekend shift differential from $3.75/hr. to $4.50/hr. This will be in line with the market.
- This is not the hospital’s final proposal. The hospital also shared with the union that we would like to discuss other ways to improve the wages of our team members while also ensuring the financial stability of the organization. The union and hospital will discuss this in next week’s negotiation sessions.
- The hospital made counter proposals to 12 of the union’s proposals, seeking to find a way forward on topics such as education pay, temporary hours, sick leave buyback and travel pay.
- The hospital and the union reached tentative agreements on the following topics:
- WIH accepted the union’s proposal related to market adjustment language.
- WIH accepted the union’s proposal to make weekend differential effective 7 pm Friday for 12-hour shifts.
- 1199 agreed to the hospital’s proposal to use gender neutral identifiers (pronouns) in all contracts.
- 1199 agreed to hospital proposed language that allows for corrective action to be delivered after an employee returns from leave for anyone going on leave right before a corrective action plan.
- Both parties agreed to the elimination of the previously established Healthcare Committee and its incorporation into Labor Management Committee.
The hospital continues to work very hard to reach an agreement that is good for our employees and to conclude negotiations before the contract ends. We make a commitment to you today that we will continue our efforts to reach resolution as we meet again next week.
Sincerely,
Women & Infants Negotiating Team