On Wednesday, February 8, the AURN Bargaining Team virtually met with management via WebEx for our 7th bargaining session. At this particular bargaining session, our team focused on standing up for resource nurses. We emphasized to management that they must respect our resource nurses who have sacrificed so much, right alongside FTE nurses, to go above and beyond expectations to keep the hospital staffed throughout the pandemic. One of our top bargaining priorities is retention, and so we spoke about how important it is to retain all nurses, including resource nurses. During our presentation, we proposed to management increases to resource nurse differentials for those working over 36 hours per pay period, and inclusion of education hours worked in minimum shift requirements and hours requirements attached to certification pay. We also proposed improvements to the restructuring process and the process for changing someone’s FTE in Article 20.

We were deeply concerned by counter-proposals from management that would allow investigations of sexual harassment or racial discrimination to delay our union grievance procedure by up to 90 days. It is concerning that those facing some of the worst treatment at OHSU might experience the longest wait for resolution and be put on a separate and longer timeline. In addition, they would not agree to allow nurses to file grievances over discrimination or harassment during their trial service period. Management explained that the AAEO office (which is changing its name to OCIC) can’t process things any faster. OHSU must do better.

In the discussion about payroll errors and offering exit interviews to nurses transferring units, we were disappointed that management used technical/logistical excuses for not being able to solve problems. Lastly, there was a discussion of management’s desire to contract out our work. During an unprecedented time of nurses leaving OHSU, to hear that management wants the right to give our work to people outside of OHSU was very disappointing. When asked about contracting out our work, management said “We value our non-traveler nurses.”

Our bargaining team left negotiations resolved to continue our efforts to fight for a fair contract and stand up for all AURN nurses. We will be presenting a major proposal for a brand new Article on staffing next week, Wednesday, February 15 starting at 10 a.m. We hope with AURN hosting bargaining on Zoom next week, there will be fewer technical issues that our members had in observing bargaining this week on Webex. Be sure to watch for our upcoming email invite to join via Zoom to show support for safe staffing!

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Summary of Proposals:

Management’s Counterproposal on Article 6 Employment Practices
• Management is open to our proposal to expand the categories that are considered discrimination under our contract to update it to current standards.
• Management is open to our proposal to make sure nurses can seek the grievance procedure without waiting on AAEO as we’ve seen one to two year wait times for investigations to be pursued. However, management wants cases involving harassment and discrimination to wait longer than our normal grievance procedure, making those facing the most serious situations such as racist treatment or sexual harassment by a supervisor, being forced to wait 90 days for an investigation to take place before a union grievance can move forward.
• Management was open to our proposal to create an Earnings Statement Guide given the massive issues nurses are having with payroll errors and corrections. Management did not agree to our proposal to make sure earnings statements include all pay codes, rates, and differentials, and they maintain that technical issues prevent providing everything to employees.
• Management was not open to our proposal for nurses to be able to file grievances over discrimination or sexual harassment during their trail service period. This is deeply concerning as these nurses are in the most vulnerable portion of their career.

Article 24 Resource Nurses
• Hours spent in mandatory education should count towards minimum hours requirements.
• Holiday work requirements should be met if holiday hours are worked, even if they are picking up a shift outside of availability that was offered.
• Clarify that temporary assignments are not just 13 weeks in length.
• Substantial increase to resource nurse differentials for those that work 36, 48, and 60 hours or more per pay period.
• 1040 minimum hours required for certification pay should include education hours worked.
• We proposed providing notification to resource nurses who are not on track to meet minimum hours required per year. As it stands now, if a resource nurse fails the minimum work requirements for one fiscal year, they are automatically terminated without notice that they are at risk of falling short on their hours. Providing notice, we hope, will reduce this from happening and help retain nurses.

Article 20 Layoff and Recall (Proposals involving Restructures and Reductions in FTE)
• We would like to improve the restructure process to make sure positions aren’t moved to other units without following a fair process.
• We would like to make sure that the process that nurses can seek to have their FTE changed to a different amount allows flexibility for some units that need to provide FTE changes equitably to all shifts. Some units currently have issues with the majority of lower FTEs going to one shift, while there are retention issues for all shifts. FTE changes can be a major source of job satisfaction and retention to keep nurses at OHSU.
• We would like to have clearer timelines on the notice process for FTE changes. We don’t want to see nurses seek jobs outside OHSU because the wait took too long.