Bargaining Update #22

Today we completed our 21st bargaining session with the NNU and our UCMC bargaining team. I’ve taken the opportunity to recenter us more than once in this process — I will take that opportunity again today.

Progress is defined as forward or onward movement towards a destination. Big or small, never underestimate what you’ve done so far on your path to success — for when everything adds up, you’ll see that you’ve come a long way since you’ve started. Today, we hope each of you see we continue to make deliberate progress.

We reached a tentative agreement on the Weekend Program today that is part of perioperative service line. Our Weekend Program Nurses are valuable members of the team, and we hope these changes continue to support them in their unique work. The major changes within this tentative agreement include:

• Weekend Program Nurses who work any holiday hours on their weekend will receive holiday pay equivalent to the appropriate overtime rate.
• Weekend Program Nurses who are absent related to an illness that is excused under the Medical Center’s Communicable Disease Policy will not have those absences regarded as a break in continuing of weekends worked.

We also responded to a previous economic pass and, late in the day, the NNU provided a separate pass addressing economics that we will respond to during our next session.

I will reiterate Emily’s sentiment from last week: to bring this contract to a close we need time at the table. Today, the NNU accepted an additional bargaining date on February 27th, but we are still awaiting a response to the six days in March that UCMC offered during our previous session.

Much like the NNU, and I’m sure each of you, we want to bring these negotiations to a close in our upcoming bargaining sessions.

Between now and then, enjoy the short-lived, but beautiful, spring weather.

Jeff Murphy, DNP, RN, CEN, NEA-BC (he/him/his)
Vice President Comer Children’s Hospital,
Associate Chief Nursing Officer