Union in Brief – March/April’11 Voice

April 2011

KAISER UNIONS DELEGATES CONFERENCE — In late March approximately 60 Kaiser affiliate leaders and UNAC/UHCP staff will attend the annual Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions Delegate Conference in San Jose. This year’s conference theme is Transformational Leadership, and will feature guest speakers George Halvorson, Kaiser Permanente CEO; Joycelyn Elders, MD, a pediatrician and former surgeon general to the Clinton administration; Van Jones, former special green jobs adviser to the Obama administration and co-founder of three non-profits; and Dee Edington, author of Zero Trends: Health as a Serious Economic Strategy and director of the University of Michigan Health Management Research Center. Conference attendees will have access to some 30 workshops, including ones on unit-based teams, performance improvement methodologies, communications and creative thinking, and LMP and Kaiser Permanente programs, including Healthy Workforce, Workforce Development and Compliance.

ST. FRANCIS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS —RNs at St. Francis Medical Center have launched their 2011 Contract Campaign beginning with bargaining surveys that were released on February 28th. Elections are now being held for the negotiating team and contract education sessions for all members are scheduled for March 21 and 28th. St. Francis officers are building a Contract Support Committee, member representatives in all units and shifts who will work on ensuring that all members are informed and active as we begin negotiating a contract that honors our work, dedication and skills.

PARKVIEW CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS — Negotiations will begin soon to renew the Parkview Registered Nurse Association-Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center contract. Bargaining will be led by UNAC/UHCP staff representatives Joy Harvey, RN and Penny Brown, RN. The current two-year agreement expires April 30, 2011.

BEVERLY HOSPITAL ELECTION WON — The Registered Nurses at Beverly Hospital voted by an almost three-to-one margin – 161 to 57 – to join UNAC/UHCP in elections held on February 23 and 24 at the Montebello hospital. The National Labor Relations Board certified UNAC/UHCP as the representative body for the Beverly nurses on March 2. The next stage for Beverly will be negotiations with management for a contract, where nurses will seek protections for safe and legal staffing to improve patient care. The steps toward negotiations include conducting the bargaining survey and electing the bargaining team. The Beverly RNs will beinvolved in developing proposals.