Ratification Meeting Schedule & Complete TA
December 2013
After seven months and 38 full day meetings, the United Therapists of Southern California (UTSC) Negotiating Team and UNAC/UHCP are pleased to announce that we have completed work on a tentative Collective Bargaining Agreement, the first for Southern California KP therapists. The Agreement represents hundreds of hours of work on behalf of your bargaining team, and as is true of any bargained Agreement, difficult decisions were made by both sides to reach consensus over tough issues. You should know that your negotiating team attempted to build in flexibility where differences existed between medical centers, and where we thought it was appropriate for such differences to continue so long as the therapists at the local medical center level agreed (for example, the scheduling of ETO, holidays and weekend work.) We also worked hard to bring consistency across medical centers where there were great inconsistencies, and from our perspective, a need for much greater alignment among the region’s medical centers (for example, staffing/workload and job transfers/promotions.) In general, the Agreement provides:
* The ability to resolve disagreements through a grievance and binding arbitration process;
* Therapists may only be disciplined, suspended or terminated for just cause; no longer “at will” employees;
* A fair, transparent job bidding/awarding process;
* Strong, enforceable workload/staffing guidelines;
* Guaranteed wage increases and a new 15 year wage step;
* Improved pension and retiree medical benefits, and a new retiree Health Reimbursement Account (HRA);
* The use of the tuition reimbursement program ($2,000 per year) for continuing education courses needed to attain or maintain licensure or certification;
* Covered by the Employment and Income Security Agreement that offers minimum one year protection from being laid off;
* Full participation in the Labor Management Partnership and covered by the 2012‐2015 National Agreement; and
* An expiration date of September 30, 2015, so in essence this is a 21 month Agreement.
View the tentative agreement here.
Your negotiating team and Lead Negotiator Bill Rouse recommend ratification of this tentative Agreement. We look forward to discussing all the Agreement’s details at the ratification meetings, and answering your questions. Thanks for your patience and support over the past seven months.
Ratification Meeting Schedule
| MEETING DATE | MEDICAL CENTER | TIME | MEETING LOCATION |
| Monday, January 6 | Woodland Hills | 4 pm – 9 pm | MC Entrance 5, Auditorium B |
| Monday, January 6 | Downey | 5 pm – 10 pm | Garden MOB, Classroom 2, 3rd Floor |
| Tuesday, January 7 | Orange County – Anaheim | 4 pm – 9 pm | Kraemer MOB2, CC3 |
| Tuesday, January 7 | Panorama City | 4 pm – 9 pm | North Side 2, Room D |
| Wednesday, January 8 | Orange County – Irvine | 4 pm – 9 pm | Irvine MC, MOB2, C5 |
| Wednesday, January 8 | West Los Angeles | 4 pm – 9 pm | MC Basement, Class Rooms B&C |
| Thursday, January 9 | Baldwin Park | 4 pm – 9 pm | MC Basement, Conference Room B11 |
| Monday, January 13 | San Diego – San Marcos | 4 pm – 9 pm | Classroom A |
| Monday, January 13 | Riverside | 4 pm – 9 pm | MOB II, Rooms 218, 220 and 222 |
| Tuesday, January 14 | San Diego – Kearny Mesa | 4 pm – 9 pm | Classroom D |
| Tuesday, January 14 | LAMC (Sunset) | 4 pm – 9 pm | 4867 Sunset, Conf. Room 660 AB |
| Wednesday, January 15 | Ontario | 4 pm – 9 pm | OMC Hospital, 1C |
| Wednesday, January 15 | South Bay | 4 pm – 9 pm | Conference Rooms A1/A2 |
| Thursday, January 16 | Fontana | 4 pm – 9 pm | FMC MOB3, Conf. Room 2A |
| Thursday, January 16 | Lancaster | 4 pm – 9 pm | Lancaster MOB, Physical Therapy Gym |