On Monday, we held our fourth bargaining session with United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) Local 324, the union representing our Orange County-based AMAs.
With each session, we continue to make progress toward reaching a contract. As we go through the bargaining process, it’s important to remember the output of this process is a legal document that every bargaining unit member and PPOSBC will be required to follow. With this in mind, we are moving quickly while also being thorough and thoughtful so that we reach a contract that is clear, actionable and sustainable for our organization, especially as we consider possible outcomes for the upcoming presential election.
WHAT WE COVERED
During the bargaining session, the union circulated a revised version of the proposed contract with updates from our following bargaining session. We were prepared to discuss their revisions, and came to the session with additional discussions points to contribute. We were able to reach an agreement with the union regarding four topics:
- Documenting discipline and discharge, and our probationary period
- Practice for layoffs, including notice, severance and recall
- Terms related to a labor management committee
- Workplace safety (including furniture)
Additionally, we had thoughtful discussions about the following topics: union representatives and stewards, temporary and per diem employees, seniority priority for layoffs, and the no strike provision. We also committed to negotiating hours of work, overtime, leaves of absence and tuition reimbursement during our next session on November 7.
We remain committed to bargaining in good faith to reach a contract. And, as always, our top priority is to deliver on our mission by caring for our staff, our patients, and the communities we serve.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Our next session will be Thursday, November 7. We also have sessions scheduled for November 22 and December 5 and 20.
WHERE TO LEARN MORE
Please visit PPOSBCtogether.org for more information about negotiations, including key dates, updates and FAQs.
