Unit 17

Click here to read about the pay parity victory.

State signs our plan to help nurses
New committee to help state retain registered nurses

Updated 10:00 a.m., July 17

The Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) agreed Wednesday to our proposal to work together to retain and recruit more registered nurses for state agencies and take the load off members who work mandatory overtime.

“This will help us address critical issues for our members who are in departments where we are forced to work overtime,” said Nancy Lyerla, chair of the Registered Nurses (Unit 17) bargaining team. “We are ensuring that registered nurses will have a voice in the staffing issues that affect our members.”

Seven tentative agreements were signed on Wednesday. Our nurse team also gave DPA negotiators a presentation on state laws and regulations that forbid the supervision of registered nurses by non-RNs.

“We made it clear that the state has violated its own laws with regard to the supervision of registered nurses,” Lyerla said.

Our bargaining team passed 11 proposals – covering post and bid procedures and salary equity for public health nurses. Both sides are scheduled to meet again on July 27.

Unit 17 presses state on nurse equity

Updated 4:45 p.m., June 24

Our Unit 17 nurses signed four tentative agreements and pressed the state on proposals for pay equity for several groups of public health nurses and nurse evaluators. But like other units, our team bumped into resistance from state negotiators who cited California’s ongoing budget woes.

“The state responded to our proposals for salary equity for RNs in Departments of Health Care Services, Public Health and Education by saying the administration has no money,” said Unit 17 Chair Nancy Lyerla. “But the state will continue to have trouble recruiting and retaining skilled nurses without an equity agreement. Right now the state wastes money by bringing in private nurses at a much higher rate.”

Our other proposals include maintaining the Joint Labor/Management Committee to review career opportunities and upward mobility for nurses. Our team also confronted the state on the illegal practice of having non-registered nurses supervise and evaluate RNs.

Unit 17 signs 10 tentative agreements

Updated 11:45 a.m., June 23

Our Unit 17 negotiators met for a full day on Saturday and signed 10 tentative agreements with the state, including measures affecting bereavement leave for all members and vacations for registered nurses in two departments. The two sides also discussed the state’s practice of placing nurses under the supervision of administrators who lack the proper medical credentials and mandatory overtime for nurses in some the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the Department of Mental Health—no agreement was reach on either issue.

Negotiations continue today, in the last scheduled negotiations on Unit 17 issues.

“We are ready to keep bargaining until midnight or later in order to get a contract for our members,” said Unit 17 Chair Nancy Lyerla. “We still have a lot of important issues to resolve and we’re ready to work as long as the state is ready.”

Unit 17 & state sign 10 tentative agreements

Updated 11:00 am, June 17

Our Unit 17 negotiating team reach tentative agreement with the state on 10 contract sections Monday, and presented a package of economic proposals.

“My concern is equity adjustments for health services nurses,” said Beverly Church, nurse evaluator II with the Dept. of Health Care Services. “Our negotiators gave the state a package proposal that includes equity increases for three classifications—nurse evaluators, health facility evaluator nurses, and nurse consultants—covering hundreds of employees.”

“We made sure the state understood that many health services nurses are 75 percent funded by the federal government and any increase for those classifications will only cost the state 25 percent of the increase,” Church said.

The 10 agreements reached today, bring to 35 the number of tentative agreements Local 1000 has reached for Unit 17 employees. Unit 17 is scheduled to return to negotiations on Monday, June 23.

Unit 17 signs 25 tentative agreements

Updated 10:30 a.m., June 13

In the big first day of negotiations, our Unit 17 bargaining team and the state signed 25 tentative agreements on Thursday.

The tentative agreements extend a wide range of hard-won benefits earned in the past, including reimbursements for continuing education, license renewal fees and immunization. The state also agreed to grant up to one year of unpaid educational or research leave for full-time, permanent Unit 17 nurses.

Nearly all of the tentative agreements carry forward language from the 2006 contract with only minor revisions.

“We’re happy the state is ready to get the easy stuff out of the way,” said Unit 17 Chair Nancy Lyerla.

But Lyerla expects things to go slower when Local 1000 introduces Unit 17 proposals for pay equity for nurses working in three departments – health care services, public health and education.

“We let the state know that our priority is equity pay,” Lyerla said. “The state doesn’t want to talk about money at this table, but we’re here to fight for our nurses.”

Unit 17 Tentative Agreements

Your contract contains numerous articles that are specific to the needs of Bargaining Unit 17 employees. During negotiations, our bargaining team reviews and approves each of those articles and reaches Tentative Agreement with the state as we work towards a fully approved contact.

Click on the links below to read and review Unit 17-specific articles that have been tentatively approved.

2.4.17 Distributionn of Union Information	13.18 Professional Practice Groups
8.3.17 Bereavement Leave	13.24.17 Orientation
8.24.17 DDS Vacation Scheduling	13.25.17 Mandatory Training
8.25.17 DMH Vacation Scheduling	13.26.17 Non- Mandatory Training
8.26 Yountville Veterans Home (YVH) Vacation Scheduling	13.27.17 In-Service Training
8.28 Paid Education Leave	13.29.17 Research Projects
8.29.17 Non-Paid Education or Research Leave	14.20.17 Classification Reviews
9.12.17 Flex/Elect Program	15.4.17 Employee Opportunity Transfer
9.19.17 Light/Limited Duty Assignment	16.7 Continuation of Benefits
9.21 Reasonable Accommodation	19.3.17 Rest Periods
10.7.17 Protective Clothing	19.4.17 Meal Periods
10.18.17 Referral of Assault.Battery	19.6.17 Show Up Time
10.19 Prevention and Management of Assaultive...	19.18.17 Rescinding Approved Time Off
10.24.17 Immunization Against Diseases	19.19.17 Work Week Group Definitions
10.35 Employee Self-Protection	19.25.17 Travel Time
10.36.17 Incident Debriefing	19.26.17 Work Week Correctional Institutions
10.37.17 Wellness Programs	21.19 Nursing Policy and Procedures Manual
10.38.17 Rest Areas	21.20.17 Labor/Management Committee - Nurse...
11.5.17 Release of Paychecks - NOC Shift or First Watch	21.21.17 Contract Violation Waiver
11.6 Overtime Checks	21.22 Licensure
11.17.17 Recruitment & Retention Differential	21.23.17 Recruitment & Retention Committee
11.18.17 Retirement Compensation
11.58.17 Arduous Pay Differential	Appendix 3.17 FLSA Exempt Employee Differential
12.6.17 Alternate Transportation
12.13.17 Business Equipment, Materials and Supplies	Side Letter 4.17 Recruitment & Retention...
12.18 License Renewal Fees	Side Letter 5.17 Activation of (CTCs)
12.21.17 Nurse Practitioner Furnishing Number...	Side Letter 6.17 Organ Donation
13.12.17 Employment Opportunities

Processing the tentative agreements is time consuming. We are posting the information to the website throughout the day as quickly as possible.

Bargaining Unit 17 Election Results

Click here to view the Bargaining unit 17 election results

Unit 17 is made up of United Registered Nurses

Includes registered nurses in the state hospitals and prisons, Department of Health Services nurses evaluators who inspect facilitates, and nurse consultants who oversee special programs.

Pay Equity

Our Bargaining Unit 17 negotiating team has made “pay equity” for Health Facilities Evaluator Nurses, Nurse Consultants and Nurse Evaluators our number one priority during negotiations.

By signing this petition, you will be showing the Department of Personnel Administration (DPA) that all DHCS and CDPH nurses are united with one clear, strong voice. The petitions themselves will be presented to the DPA’s negotiating team during bargaining to ensure that our voices are being heard loud and clear by both DPA and the governor.

Thank you for taking this action because we cannot win without your support.

To sign our petition click here.

BARGAINING HAS BEGUN

From May 12 – 23 the individual Bargaining Teams gathered at the Holiday Inn in Sacramento and went to work. The Master Table and the each bargaining team members met and discussed which articles will stay with BU 17 and which will go to the Master Table. We also met with DPA 3 or 4 times to discuss ground rules for negotiations.

In case you missed the bargaining reports on the Channel 1000 News, the state was totally unprepared. We were ready to bargain but – as usual -- the state was not. Both sides signed ground rules but the next day state negotiators discovered that they did not agree to the first item they signed.

Bargaining resumes on June 9tand our first BU 17 negotiations is set for June 12. We will be well prepared and are determined to get a good contract (with pay equity for our DHS Nurses as the top priority!) by the June 30 deadline.

CDHCS and CDPH

We have started a campaign to reach out to our fellow RN’s in these two departments. Beverly Church, RN DBUR is scheduled to begin traveling up and down the State on June 16th. We have been trying to get her boss to let her off full time for the duration of the fight for equity.

Hopefully that will only be through the Month of June or maybe part of July. The campaign is centered around getting signatures we can present at the Bargaining Table and the idea to put a face and story to these Nurses. Mel Stewart is the Union Representative who is heading up this effort. I will keep you posted BUT Mel is the point man and answer man for this campaign. You can reach him at MStewart@seiu1000.org. Let him hear from you!!

Pay Parity for DMH, DDS, and DVA

The Assembly Bill 3043 passed the full Assembly on Thursday (May 29. The bill goes to the Senate next week. We will keep you informed about its progress through Senate committees.

CDCR

The Task Force continues to go up and down the state. We have a meeting scheduled with federal Receiver F. Clark Kelso on June 20. The Senate rejected Kelso’s request for $7 billion in bond funds to pay for improvements to the prison medical system. But he will continue pushing for money to fund his program. We plan to closely follow this issue.

Unit 17 begins bargaining at our table on June 12.