Progress Update

October 2015

Dear Professional Colleague,

I want to update you about everything that’s been going on since ratifying the contract.

DRAFT CONSTITUTION COMPLETED and MAILED

The Constitution Committee has completed its work and a draft Affiliate Constitution was mailed today for you to review and vote on. Under the UNAC/UHCP structure, each Affiliate operates semi-autonomously, with its own Constitution and elected Officers. The enclosed draft Constitution provides guidelines on: (1) membership requirements; (2) the titles and duties of your Executive Officers; (3) how Executive Officer nominations and elections are conducted; (4) standing committees; (5) membership meetings; and (6) how the Constitution may be amended. Please note that your Constitution is a living document, meaning that it can be amended as much, and as often, as needed subject to the guidelines found in Article 14.

I want to thank the Constitution Committee for putting the draft together. Committee members included: Robin Borden, Riverside; Paul Chen, MOPC; Sheri Gotanda, Downey Independence Park; Lawrence Louie, Baldwin Park; Christine Suh, South Bay; and Charmaine Morales, UNAC/UHCP Secretary.

After reviewing the draft Constitution, submit your ballot as soon as possible. All ballots must be received in the UNAC/UHCP office by close of business on Thursday, November 12, 2015.

ELECTING AFFILIATE OFFICERS

Once the Constitution has been accepted, we will immediately move to hold an election for your nine Executive Officers. Assuming the Constitution is accepted, we would open nominations on November 16, close nominations of December 1, and mail election ballots on December 7 with a return date of December 28. More information will be provided when we open nominations.

MANAGEMENT TRAINING

Pharmacy management training on the new contract continues in Downey. All managers will have received training by the middle of November, at the latest, so we are not strictly enforcing certain aspects of the contract until then. Once I know that a majority of the managers have been trained, we will begin holding them accountable to all the contract’s provisions, particularly the four week scheduling process.

The majority of managers have received training on the vacation bidding process, which should now be underway in all work locations. If you are experiencing vacation bidding process problems, please contact me as soon as possible.

PART-TIME and PER DIEM CONVERSION PROCESS

We have not yet begun the part-time and per diem conversion process.

My first meeting with management on the part-time conversion is this Thursday, October 29. The part-time conversion to a fixed FTE status will take effect starting the first full pay period of 2016. We will be using historical worked hours data, along with non-worked hours data, to determine each part-time Pharmacist’s FTE status. We have not agreed on a specific time period to use, but there is general agreement that we will look at a work history of 12 to 18 months and use pay-period-by-pay-period data so that any anomalies in work history, e.g. a leave of absence or transitioning from per diem to part-time, will be evident. Once the work has been completed, each part-time Pharmacist will have a choice to make – convert to the fixed FTE status that reflects the work history or accept the basic 0.5 FTE status (the minimum benefited status of 40 hours per pay period). We anticipate contacting part-time Pharmacists sometime in early December with the results.

I am meeting management on Friday, October 30 to discuss the per diem conversion. In terms of the per diem conversion, we will be using a fixed time period to extract data – August 1, 2014 to July 31, 2015 – as defined by the National Agreement. Management cannot affect the outcome of the per diem conversion in any way because we are using historical work history, not what a per diem may be working presently.

MEMBERSHIP CARDS

Many of you have completed membership/dues deduction cards. Thank you.

For Pharmacists who have not yet completed a membership/dues deduction card, we will be mailing them to your home address early next week. Please follow the instructions found in the cover letter and return the membership card as soon as possible.

I do not have a start date for dues deduction, although it certainly will not be before December. I will let you know beforehand when dues will be deducted so that you can anticipate the change. Any Pharmacist who does not complete and return a membership/dues deduction card prior to the start of dues deduction will owe back dues.

Thanks for your continued support and participation!

Bill Rouse
Executive Assistant to the Officers
UNAC/UHCP