OPEIU Local 22 and the Hospital returned to the bargaining table for our second meeting for the 2023 contract on April 6. We presented five new proposals to the Hospital for their consideration. These are outlined below:

Proposal 1: Bereavement Leave

This proposal would guarantee up to one week of leave for the death of an immediate family member for full time employees. Those who are not full time would receive time off equivalent to their average hours worked. This proposal also defines who qualifies as an immediate family member.

Proposal 2: Clinical Ladder

This proposal would expand the clinical ladder eligibility to include all nurses in the bargaining unit, which would include non-bedside nurses. The proposal also locks-in the current differential amount ($2/$4/$6), as well as prevents unilateral changes to the structure of the program.

Proposal 3: Increase Recognized and Paid Holidays

This proposal would increase the number of recognized holidays and the holidays paid the holiday differential to include all federal holidays.

Proposal 4: Over and Under Payments

This proposal outlines the steps that the Hospital would have to take in the event a nurse received an over or underpayment, such as those that occurred during the recent system outages during the cyber-attack. It sets limits on how money could be recouped, requires HR to meet with the affected Nurse to explain the over or underpayment, and requires notification of the Union of systematic over and underpayments.

Proposal 5: Successor Clause

This proposal sets the standard that if the hospital changes ownership for any reason, the contract would remain in effect under said new ownership.

You can track the status of our proposals, read the full text, and see updates by using our new Proposal Tracker Spreadsheet here.

We eagerly await the hospital’s response to our ten proposals thus far, as well as anticipate their proposals. We will return to the bargaining table on April 19, and expect to have responses from the hospital at that time. We are continuing to work on proposals, including staffing and wages. If you have not already taken our survey to share your opinions on what you would like to see in our contract, please do so here.

In solidarity,

OPEIU Local 22