Unit 17’s bargaining team began the day at the State Capitol, as our bill to stop mandatory overtime, AB 840, was heard for the first time in the Senate Public Employee and Retirement Committee. The bill has already passed the assembly and we and our allies are determined to see it through to the governor’s desk. Our Unit 17 Chair Kimberly Cowart joined Vice President for Bargaining Margarita Maldonado at the hearing to testify on the impacts of this dangerous staffing practice on our members and their families.
Unit 17’s bargaining team began the day at the State Capitol, as our bill to stop mandatory overtime, AB 840, was heard for the first time in the Senate Public Employee and Retirement Committee. The bill has already passed the assembly and we and our allies are determined to see it through to the governor’s desk. Our Unit 17 Chair Kimberly Cowart joined Vice President for Bargaining Margarita Maldonado at the hearing to testify on the impacts of this dangerous staffing practice on our members and their families.
State officials brought out the same tired excuses they have been using for years, complaining that it’s difficult to recruit and retain staff at the many state institutions located in rural areas. But, Maldonado pointed out to the committee, the private sector—where mandatory overtime for nurses is banned—has over 3,500 facilities all over California. The state has only 54. Certainly there are rural areas where nurses are simply choosing to work at non-state facilities over the mandate-dependent state system.
Later, Cowart suggested state officials have it backwards when they contend mandatory overtime is a result of recruitment and retention problems…when clearly it is a major cause.
“If the departments are going to get serious about recruitment and retention, they are going to have to get serious about a strategy to become the employer of choice for nurses,” says Cowart. “They can start by eliminating mandatory overtime.”
Local 1000 and your Unit 17 bargaining team will continue to fight mandatory overtime on every front available, including at the bargaining table and in the legislature. We will continue to update you as AB 840 moves through the senate. We will also let you know when we receive a response from the bargaining proposal we made last week to ban mandatory overtime.
After spending the morning at the capitol, the Unit 17 bargaining team returned to the table to continue contract work. We gave the state four proposals that are all consistent with proposals made earlier at the Master bargaining table.
Our proposals addressed:
- Bilingual pay: Recognizing the valuable translation services Unit 17 members provide, we proposed raising the bilingual differential and distinguishing between the different skills and time involved between written and oral translation.
- Overtime meals: Because our members have told us over and over again that $6 or $8 dollars is not adequate to buy a healthy and complete meal, we want the state to raise the overtime meal allowance to $12.
- Overtime pay: Our proposal would allow employees to be able to receive cash or CTO at their discretion. We also want jury leave, military leave, holidays and subpoenaed witness duty to now count as time worked for the purpose of computing cash or compensating time off for overtime.
- Night shift differential: Recognizing the extra effort and stress caused by working the night and graveyard shift, our proposal increases the shift differential paid to employees who work between 6pm and 6am, an amount that hasn’t been changed since 1992.
We are going back to the table the first week of June. Until then, our bargaining team will be visiting worksites across the state to talk to members about what’s happened at the table so far, what work we have left to do, and how members can continue to support our efforts to get a great contract.
Support your bargaining team! A great contract happens when we show the state that our members are “all in.” Purple up, stand up, and send your photos to photos@seiu1000.org.
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