Support the United Way with Chocolate and Adorableness!

You could WIN a lot of CHOCOLATE!

Join SHARE and UMass Memorial in supporting the United Way by purchasing raffle tickets. SHARE will be hosting a table where you can enter to win either (or both!) of these exciting prizes:

• A basket brimming with chocolate treats
• A basket featuring a diaorama with one adorable handmade mouse (see photos below)

Contents of these gift baskets have been donated by members of the SHARE organizing staff. Raffle tickets cost one dollar each, with all proceeds going to support the United Way. You can enter to win at one of the following locations and times:

University Campus Cafeteria Thursday, April 13th 11:30-1:30

Memorial Campus Cafeteria Friday, April 14th 11:30-1:30

If you have questions, or work on another campus and can't come to our table to enter in person, please call the SHARE office (508-929-4020).

Handmade Mouse by Tracie Cahan

This could be yours!

SHARE Presents: Lunchtime Piano Performances, April 3-7

SHARE invites you

to celebrate Spring

with music.

Chopin, Liszt, Mozart and Rachmaninoff

performed by

Orvill Delatorre

Free and open to the public

UMASS School of Medicine Lobby

From Monday, April 3rd - Friday, April 7th

Playing from 11 - 1 pm

(unless other activity is scheduled at the area)

Orvill is a graduate of the New England Conservatory Preparatory School, Boston, MA, and is currently a student of Cornell University's School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. Class of 2019.

His mother, Elsa, is a hospital interpreter and member of SHARE

Union Member Audrey King on Unit-Based Teams at Kaiser Permanente

I met Audrey King during a recent trip to Washington DC. The visit continued SHARE's study of union-management partnership in the Kaiser Permanente healthcare network, and how participation makes things better for front-line employees.

Audrey has worked at Kaiser Permanente for 36 years. She has seen the change that Unit-Based Teams has brought to her work there. I thought Audrey had some great things to say, so I asked her if I could record her so SHARE members could hear what she had to say. (Sorry about the noise in the background of the cafeteria!)

Here's a little more about who Audrey is: She's a member of OPEIU Local 2 (one of three union locals representing employees at Kaiser Permanente in the Mid-Atlantic region). Together with the regional quality manager for the KP Labs, Audrey made a presentation to us at their Capitol Hill Medical Center about how the union and management co-sponsors help to make the UBTs successful. (It was cool that every presentation in our day-long visit was made in pairs: a union person and a manager.)

SHARE Field Report from Kaiser Permanente Capitol Hill Medical Center

In early March, eight SHARE leaders and nine UMMHC management leaders visited Kaiser Permanente's Capitol Hill Medical Center in Washington DC. SHARE has been studying the Kaiser Permanente unions’ progress in transforming culture. And we’ve been negotiating ideas from their model with our own hospital leadership.

This trip, however, was our first opportunity to see the work at Kaiser Permanente firsthand, up close, in partnership. Together, we got the chance to meet with our Kaiser counterparts (union leaders with union leaders, HR with HR, surgical and clinical management with management.) One of the key themes of the day was that partnership, and the benefits of partnership, are only as strong as its unions: "I've worked in a lot of different ways. And labor management partnership is the best," one labor leader told us. "But never forget you're a union."

At Kaiser Permanente's Capitol Hill Medical Center: Shenita Stewart (Pharmacy UBT Co-Lead, OPIEU Local 2), Cliff Lovett (Pharmacy Manager & UBT Co-Lead), and Wendy Williams (Improvement Advisor, UFCW Local 27)

PHARMACIES LEARNING from EACH OTHER

The cornerstone of our 2016 contract agreement, Unit-Based Teams, is based on a model that Kaiser and its unions pioneered a decade ago. We have launched our first six here at UMass Memorial in the last few weeks, and co-sponsors of those new Teams got to look under the hood at some established, long-running UBT’s in Washington.

Our contingent met directly with the co-leads of the Unit-Based Team from the Pharmacy at their Capitol Hill location. The two co-leads of the UBT, Shenita Stewart, a Pharmacy Technician and union member, and Clifford Lovett, the manager were proud of two highly successful improvement projects their department had worked on: getting prescriptions more quickly to patients, and increasing sales of Over-the-Counter drugs. For each project, their team experimented with improvements, systematically. They tried some things that didn’t work . . . and when they realized those ideas wouldn’t pan out, they quickly stopped. They landed on some things that really worked. 

Shenita told us that some of her co-workers didn't believe that UBT would make a difference at first. She acknowledged that their department still has issues to work on, but says that morale is much higher, attendance is better, and she’s seen a lot of improvement in the culture.

PEDIATRIC SUBSPECIALTY UBT in ACTION 

Some SHARE and UMass Memorial folks got to sit-in on a UBT meeting in the Pediatric Subspecialty Clinics. "It was fascinating to see consensus decision-making in action," said Bobbi-Jo Lewis from SHARE. "The co-leads went around the group, asking what each person thought, before they went forward. The group agreed to take on a project to explore sending thermometers home with families, even though it was only important to some of the sub-specialties, because they decided to support each other."

WHEN the GAME CHANGES, CHANGE the GAME

Some Kaiser Permanente UBT’s involve patients directly in their Improvement Projects. For example, they might invite a patient with a particular complaint to come talk to the department. Lu Casa, a UFCW Local 400 union member and UBT Co-Lead in the Adult Medicine Department, described her department’s efforts to manage blood pressure rates at the population-level in their community. You can see about that for yourself in the video below. It’s a fun one . . .

BRINGING THE LEARNING HOME

In DC, we learned much more about how to start a UBT on the right foot, and to ensure that it is genuinely co-led by management and labor.  We also learned about the things the Kaiser unions have been able to achieve in partnership that they were not able to do through adversarialism.  

SHARE Co-President Rita Caputo said that her biggest regret about the trip was that they couldn’t stay longer and dig deeper into how the employees there go about solving particular problems. She really appreciated how open the staff were, “They were so efficient and thorough and knowledgeable, and completely willing to let us pick their brains.” It was apparent to Rita that their experience showed them what worked. “They’re normal, like us,” she said, “and they’ve figured out for themselves how to keep making things better.”

One of the side benefits of the trip was spending so much time with our management partners.  We returned to Massachusetts with a deeper appreciation of one another’s strengths and challenges, as well as a stronger sense that we can achieve more for our members and the people they care for if we approach one another as allies rather than adversaries.

SHARE and UMass Memorial manager Co-Leads and Sponsors with Kaiser Permanente management and union leaders

The AFSCME Free College Benefit, and Other Opportunities

The educational opportunities announced on this blog have been a big hit! These are available to you as a SHARE member, although they are not administered by SHARE. For details--including direct contact information for each--please find links below.

We're very interested to know more about your experience with these programs. Give us a holler in the SHARE office and let us know how it's going. And, also, if you come across other deals open to union members, please let us know. We'd love to help others take advantage, too.

Here's a quick roundup of the latest:

AFSCME FREE COLLEGE BENEFIT

This allows you and your family members to earn an Associate's Degree online, for free! Please note that the next set of class offerings through the  AFSCME Free College Benefit is about to begin, on March 20th. For more details, visit the AFSCME Free College website, or call the program directly at 888-590-9009.

2017 CENTRAL MASSACHUSETTS AFL-CIO SCHOLARSHIP

Any SHARE members, or their children and grandchildren, who will be attending college for an undergraduate degree this Fall, are also eligible to apply for the Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO  Scholarship. The application deadline is April 28th.

UNION PLUS

Union Plus is a nation-wide non-profit consumer benefits organization sponsored by the AFL-CIO. As a SHARE member, you qualify for their services, without any additional fees or memberships. Among other things, Union Plus negotiates volume deals on gifts, entertainment tickets, etc. They work to create deals for union members, on products made by union members. They'll begin accepting applications for next year's wave of Union Plus scholarships in July.

March 14 Storm Update

As of this morning, March 14th, the UMass Memorial Medical Center Command Center says that all departments at UMass Memorial are open and SHARE members are supposed to report to work. There are rumors that certain outpatient clinics or administrative areas are closed, but the official word from the Command Center is that everything is open.

Some managers in ambulatory clinics and clerical areas have talked to SHARE members about reducing staffing based on patient needs. The bottom line: You are supposed to come to work, unless you have talked to your manager about a different arrangement.

The SHARE contract section on Severe Weather (page 103) has more info here.

Info from the Hospital's emails to employees

Our patients are our first priority; all ambulatory, inpatient and outpatient services will remain open and staffed unless otherwise notified. Managers will reach out to outpatient staff in the event that outpatient services will be closed.

The Command Centers are open on the University and Memorial Campuses to support operations and staff during today’s storm. If you have any storm-related issues, please stop by the Command Centers or call: University Campus: ‪508-856-2815 and ‪508-856-6672
, Memorial Campus: ‪508-334-6688, Hahnemann Campus concerns: Call the University Campus Command Center at ‪508-856-2815 and ‪508-856-6672

Sleeping rooms and cots are available for staff who would like to stay overnight tonight and/or tomorrow night:

• Memorial Campus – Knowles Hall (from 4:30 pm Monday to noon Wednesday)

• University Campus – S2-352, S2-310 and Faculty Conference Room (from 5 pm Monday to 7 am Wednesday)

• Hahnemann Campus – Nemitz Conference Room (from 5 pm Monday to 7 am Wednesday)

Cafeterias will be open during regular business hours:

• Memorial Campus – Opening at 6:30 am and closing at 9:30 pm

• University Campus – Opening at 7 am and closing at 10 pm, and offers a stocked kiosk at the Pavilion Café until midnight

• Hahnemann Campus – Opening at 7 am and closing at 2:30 pm

• Arrangements have been made for food to be provided to PTRC staff.

Please refer to our Employee Emergency Preparedness Guide to help you prepare for reporting to work (see page 10), including packing any necessary medication, food, weather-appropriate footwear, a shovel and your phone charger.

Our grounds staff will be working diligently to keep walkways, hospital roadways and parking lots clear with the help of 10 plows and 28 shovelers for the next 24 to 48 hours. Shuttles will run as normal. Please take your time to drive safely to and from work.

If you have questions, please refer to the Severe Weather Policy or speak with your manager."

Unit-Based Teams: Fixing Healthcare, Making Work Better at Kaiser Permanente

Bart Metzger (UMass Memorial Senior Vice President and Chief HR Officer), Hal Ruddick (Executive Director, Kaiser Permanente Coalition of Unions), and Janet Wilder (SHARE Organizer)

Hal Ruddick leads the union side of the biggest and most successful labor-management partnership in health care, and perhaps in all American industries. He’s the Executive Director of the Kaiser Permanente Coalitions of Unions, which represents 28 local unions and 115,000 union member employees at Kaiser Permanente. (SHARE has sister AFSCME union locals that represent employees at Kaiser Permanente and are part of the coalition.)

Hal Ruddick spoke at the monthly SHARE UMass Memorial Labor Management Partnership Council meeting, so we could learn from their experience.

To Ruddick, this is about fixing healthcare in America. The goal is high quality, affordable care for all, and the Kaiser unit-based teams (UBTs) and labor management partnership are working to get there.

Ruddick added that unions face many challenges right now, and that this is one vision for strengthening unions. Continuous improvement in healthcare through partnership is the foundation for good high quality union jobs.  He says that people choose to work in healthcare to make a difference, but sometimes the experience of working in healthcare drives the passion out of people. “Your work in creating UBTs is key to sustaining a sense of meaning in these jobs.”

One LMPC member asked about the Kaiser Permanente experience with the changing roles of managers and employees with UBTs. Do managers may feel they are being asked to give up control? Hal Ruddick explained that teams have a lot of tools to try to build consensus, but in the end of the day, managers can still manage and labor can still respond. Managers begin to realize that working together with their staff they can find solutions that help reach the managers’ goals. Ruddick says it’s a change for labor too: If you are part of designing a solution, then you own the solution and have to take some responsibility for it.

Introducing the First Unit-Based Teams

SHARE is moving toward a new kind of teamwork. The Unit-Based Team (“UBT”) is the best model SHARE has found for raising the level of hospital employees’ satisfaction at work. With UBT’s, every person in a work area, or Unit, has a safe way to directly shape how the work gets done. This transition to teams means SHARE members and managers will learn to work together differently.

Co-Leads from Tri-River and Primary Care talk about their hopes and fears about UBT's with SHARE UBT Coach Marie Manna

On February 16th, the first joint SHARE-UMass Memorial UBT Training session brought together Co-Leads and Co-Sponsors from five of the first Unit-Based TeamsThe room was packed with SHARE members and their management counterparts. They spent the morning learning skills for cultivating their teams. Based on the training, they talked about what opportunities they might want to explore, and what pitfalls they could foresee to avoid.

As SHARE Organizer Janet Wilder put it, over the coming years, these first UBT departments will be doing “a little bit of guinea pigging, and a whole lot of pioneering.” We wish them luck, and look forward to using what they learn as the UBT's expand to other areas of the hospital system.

The first wave of teams includes:

• Heart and Vascular Intervention Lab
• Prescription Centers (from both the Memorial and University campuses)
• Primary Care
• Tri-River Family Health Center
• Vascular Lab

Prescription Center Co-Leads Jackie Breeds  and Kristine Stapelfeld with Co-Sponsor Maddy Popkin in the middle

From the Cath Lab: Co-sponsor Kati Korenda, with Co-Leads Mary Hodgerney, and Kathy Girouard

University Campus Prescription Center Co-Leads Laurie Aubuchon, Cathy Gaulin, and Lorna Schulze

Prescription Center Co-Sponsors Deb Largesse and Roland Bercume

Michelle Drew and Mary Misiaszek

from Tri-River Family Health in Uxbridge

Current Contract

NEW 2016-2018 CONTRACT AGREEMENT

For complete details about the most recent contract agreement, including new policies and schedule of raises (with a ratification date of December 20, 2016), please visit the new SHARE Contract Agreement webpage.

2017 Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO Scholarship

The SHARE office recently received the following notice in the mail from Joe Carlson, the President of the Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO, about an annual scholarship opportunity. The lottery for these scholarships will be open to any SHARE members, as well as children and grandchildren of our members, who will graduate from high school this year and attend college next year. The details are posted below.

If you apply as a SHARE Hospital member, you'll need to include the following information:

• UNION AFFILIATION: SHARE/AFSCME
• LOCAL UNION NO: 3900

Please note that applications should NOT be sent to the SHARE office. If you would like a copy of the nomination form, please click here.

***

To: All Affiliated Locals of the Central Mass AFL/CIO,

We are pleased to announce that we will be awarding six $1,000.00 scholarships as well as a number of  $500 Platinum sponsored scholarships.

The scholarship recipients will be drawn by lottery at the May community services committee meeting and the winners will be announced at the Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament on Friday, June 2, 2017.

The scholarships will be presented at the Labor Day breakfast September 4, 2017

To be eligible, the student must be a 2016 graduating high school senior and going on to college, and a child, grandchild, or member whose local is affiliated with the Central Ma. AFL/CIO. Union members must live or work in the jurisdiction of the Central Ma. AFL/CIO.

All names must be submitted by April 28, 2017 and returned to:

Paul Soucy

AFL/CIO Labor Community Services

Central Ma. AFL-CIO

400 Washington St

Auburn, Ma. 01501

Fraternally Yours,
Joseph P. Carlson, President
Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO

PCA STAFFING: New Guidelines, New SHARE Committee

Acute Care PCA’s made clear that expectations of them have been too heavy to provide the best patient care, and we’ve heard that. In our most recent Contract Negotiations with management, we developed new guidelines which are intended to help.

Changes will begin to roll out over the course of the coming year.  A PCA Staffing Committee--made up of SHARE PCA’s, Nursing Leadership, and SHARE Leadership--has begun meeting to oversee the process. They will also develop better standards for PCA orientation, patient-centered care, etc.  

In the new model of care, the responsibility for and management of each patient’s needs will ultimately rest on a nurse.  PCA’s will continue provide hands-on care for patients, working collaboratively under the direction of the RN. The new contract explains that the PCA will typically assist the RN with workloads based on one of the following two guidelines:

1. Specific tasks that are assigned for multiple patients such as vital signs, blood sugars, weights, meal preparation, or ambulation

Or

1. Single patients with multiple care needs such as personal care and activities of daily living. In this guideline, the PCA will assist the RN(s) with up to 6 - 8 patients for the day and evening shifts and up to 8 - 10 patients on nights.

This is a major shift, and we’ll be working to roll it out steadily, a couple of floors at a time. The full text of the new guidelines will be published in the new SHARE contract. (And you can read them online now, on page 18 of the SHARE/UMass Memorial Contract Agreement.)

We heard that you want to give good quality care, and you don’t always feel that you are able to do as well as you want to. We want this new process to provide thoughtful revision of the caregiving practice, with lots of opportunity for PCA’s to provide input and participate in the design. The PCA Staffing Committee will guide the process and adjust as other opportunities for improvement are found. We’re looking forward to involving everyone to develop better teamwork, and a spirit of working together.

Notes from the First UMMHC/UMMS Listening Session on Immigration

Notes from the First UMMHC/UMMS Listening Session on Immigration

Addressing the audience at Friday’s “Listening Session on the Executive Order on Immigration,” UMMS Vice Chancellor of Diversity and Inclusion, Deborah Plummer, worked to provide reassurances, pointing out that our institutions are firmly committed to supporting our international students and colleagues.

The overfull auditorium hosted an informal question and answer session relating to the recent Executive Order which prohibits entry into the US by people from Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Iran, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. If you missed this one, the entire UMMS community is invited to attend the next

Listening Session on the Executive Order on Immigration

Tuesday, February 7, 12:00-1:00pm

In the Auditorium, 333 South Street, Shrewsbury Campus

Additionally, to address the great many specific legal questions, the Immigration Services Office and the UMass General Counsel’s office is hosting an

Immigration Law Discussion

Thursday, February 9th at 11:30am

In the UMMS Amphitheater in S2-102

Vanessa Paulman, UMMS Director of Immigration Services, highlighted that, at the heart of the University’s commitment, the UMass university system has signed on to the lawsuit brought by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, which directly challenges the legality of the Executive Order.

In this First Listening Session, there were more questions than answers, including:

• How to best care for those refugee patients who are frightened, for legal reasons, about identifying themselves, and might be foregoing important medical care
• What to do if you or someone you know about is being treated differently in the workplace as a result of their nationality
• How to help friends and family who are seeking entry to the US
• How to keep updated about the evolving legal issues involved

The facilitators promised that both institutions would ramp up communication and provide useful information to members of our community. Some things are already clear. Although permanent residents of the US who were born in one of the above-listed countries are no longer banned from entry, the facilitators still discouraged them from international travel.

Like so many in the room, SHARE leaders are still working to make sense of the legal changes and the effect on our members and our patients. We know that the Executive Order has created anxiety and unease among our members, all of whom work here legally, in service of the missions of our employers.

If you have particular concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the SHARE office. We will be happy to help you find any support and answers that you need. Additionally, we recommend contacting UMMS’ Immigration Services Office, Diversity and Inclusion Office, or the Employee Assistance Program.

Did You Know: Union Dues Are Tax-Deductible

Did you know that you can deduct the dues that you pay for SHARE membership in your taxes?

A complete list of miscellaneous deductions that can be itemized on your 1040 Form can be found on the Internal Revenue Service website.

If you do itemize your taxes, here’s some numbers that you’ll need: in 2016, SHARE dues for employees at UMass Memorial Hospital were $8.57 per week, paid 52 times in a year.(SHARE members who work 20 hours per week were charged $6.42 per week.)

Union Plus Scholarship--DEADLINE TUESDAY!

The Union Plus Education Foundation is now receiving applications for their 2017 Scholarship Program. The awards range from $500 to $4,000.

The application deadline is Tuesday, January 31, 2017.

This is a competitive scholarship, and applicants are evaluated according to academic ability, social awareness, financial need and appreciation of labor. A GPA of 3.0 or higher is recommended.

Undergraduate and graduate students are eligible. The Scholarship Program is open to current and retired members of unions participating in any Union Plus program (e.g., AFSCME), their spouses and their dependent children (as defined by IRS regulations). At least one year of continuous union membership by the applicant, applicant's spouse or parent (if applicant is a dependent). The one year membership minimum must be satisfied by May 31, 2017.

The applicant must be accepted into a U.S. accredited college or university, community college, technical or trade school at the time the award is issued. Awards must be used for the 2017 - 2018 school year. You do not have to purchase any Union Plus product or participate in any Union Plus program to be eligible.

Applicants should note that the application requires you to list the national or international union name, local union number, local union's address, phone number and the name of the local union President or Business Manager.  You need this information for your union, your spouse's union or your parent's union (if you are a dependent).  If you or your family members are affiliated with multiple unions you must list this information for all.

As a member of SHARE, you are also a member of our parent organization, AFSCME, a qualifying union. Please note that the “local number” for SHARE on the hospital-side is AFSCME Local 3900. The SHARE hospital-side co-presidents are Bobbi-Jo Lewis and Rita Caputo.

For more details, and to access the online application dashboard, please see the Union Plus Scholarship website.

You're in Books!

SHARE is highlighted in a new book from the Cornell University Press, entitled The Evolving Healthcare Landscape: How Employees, Organizations, and Institutions are Adapting and Innovating. Our union is profiled in a chapter that describes labor-management partnership at six different hospitals, including our own.

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF WORK LIFE

The book provides some background about SHARE’s history of “Joint Working Groups that bring together managers, providers, union members, and union staff to discuss issues.” It explains how, recently, our union’s philosophies have matched more with those of the hospital leadership, and align with the efforts of the Center for Innovation and Transformational Change (CITC). There’s even mention of the Patient Satisfaction project involving SHARE members in our hospital’s Central Scheduling department.

The chapter opens by pointing out that, according to previous studies, “labor-management partnerships have been an important and powerful process to improve the quality of services/products, control costs, and improve the quality of work life of employees as result of front-line staff and union involvement.” The chapter concludes with the idea that SHARE “believes strongly that members want to have a more direct role in the process improvement activities as well as improving quality of worklife issues.”

THE WORK AHEAD FOR SHARE

The authors note that we've got a ways to go. “The main challenge thus far,” they write, “is the unevenness of implementation: some departments are quite invested and committed to the process, while others have not adopted any of the new practices.” That certainly describes one of the big challenges ahead. SHARE wants every member to have the tools to improve her work life.

Fortunately, one thing that feels exciting to us is that, less than two months after being printed, the book is already a little out-of-date. The authors note with curiosity in the book that our union and hospital didn’t have any written agreements about our process improvement work.

Things have changed, however. Since our recent contract agreement, we now have a mutual commitment to spread Unit Based Teams throughout our hospital system, and further develop the ability for front-line employees to take the lead in the workplace.

FUTURE STUDIES OF SHARE’S EVOLUTION

We also find it fortunate that the authors, Adrienne Eaton and Becky Givan, have asked to continue to study our efforts. We’ve looked to their writing to better understand the successes and failures of labor-management relationships in the past, and are excited to welcome them to help us make sense of the work we’re doing here.

WANT TO READ MORE?

If you’d like to go farther back in the academic literature, you can read about SHARE in “Changing Work, Changing People: A Conversation with Union Organizers at Harvard University and the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.”

Or dive even deeper into our history by reading the book about our sister union at Harvard University, We Can’t Eat Prestige: The Women Who Organized Harvard.

One-on-one Meetings with Fidelity about your 401K

In case you missed it, Fidelity is making one-on-one appointments available at UMass Memorial locations for people who want information about saving for retirement with a 401K.

Remember: Starting this month, the UMass Memorial "match" on the money you contribute to your 401K doubles, from $.25 on the dollar to $.50 on the dollar, up to 4% of your pay.

To schedule an appointment with Fidelity, call 800-642-7131 or register on-line at getguidance.fidelity.com. Fidelity suggests you bring any relevant account statements with you if that will help get answers to your questions. They require an appointment, and say they won't take walk-ins.

Date	Location	Room
Wednesday, January 18	Hahnemann Campus	2nd Floor Conference Room
Thursday, January 19	Memorial Campus	Memorial 1 Conference Room
Wednesday, February 1	University Campus	Goff S2-309D
Thursday, February 9	306 Belmont Street	Conference Room 1
Monday, February 13	Memorial Campus	Memorial 1 Conference Room
Wednesday, February 15	Biotech 1	Hospital Labs, 2nd Floor, Conference Room B
Tuesday, February 21	Worcester Business Center	Worcester State Conference Room
Wednesday, March 1	University Campus	Goff S2-309D
Thursday, March 9	Milford – 91 Water Street	2nd Floor Conference Room
Tuesday, March 14	Worcester Business Center	Worcester State Conference Room
Wednesday, March 22	Hahnemann Campus	2nd Floor Conference Room

January Is National Blood Donor Month

Sara and Jen at the University Campus Blood Donor Center

The Blood Donor Center at UMass Memorial accepts the important gift of blood year-round, and January is a great time to resolve to give. Already in 2017 the American Red Cross has issued an emergency call for blood and platelet donations in response to a severe winter blood shortage. Blood is required for a number of medical conditions, including, of course, transplants, cancers, and traumatic injuries. UMass Memorial uses about 31,000 blood products each year to meet the needs of patients. The Blood Donor Center is located on the University Campus, downstairs from the Emergency Department. Walk-ins are welcome for whole-blood donations, or to schedule an appointment, please call 508-421-1950. To find other locations to give, visit the Red Cross website.  

SHARE Staff Organizer Will, giving some platelets. [Not pictured:Will's normal smile]

Bonus Questions

If you have questions about the bonus negotiated in the contract, please call the SHARE office, or email us at share.comment@theshareunion.org. We will collect up the questions, answer the ones we can answer, and then take any unresolved issues to HR. Below are some of the questions that people have been asking. If you have other questions or issues, please let us know.

Please do not call HR or Payroll about these questions right now -- they are working hard on processing our January 1 raises, and have asked us to handle questions about the bonus for now. Thanks!

How is the pre-tax bonus amount calculated?

The amount is based on the number of hours that you were paid for between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2016. 40 hours/week  x 52 weeks = 2,080 hours. Anything less than 2,080 is pro-rated.

• If you work 40 hours/week, and you were paid for all your time off, then you get $1,000
• If you work an average of 32 hours/week, and you were paid for all time off, then you get $800
• If you work an average of 24 hours/week, and you were paid for all time off, then you get $600
• Unpaid leave could reduce the number of hours, and the amount of the bonus
• OT can increase the number of hours, and the amount of the bonus, but not above $1,000

If the bonus is for this year, why is it based on last year's hours? Why not use my hours this year?

Lots of SHARE members are on the books for 24 or 32 hours but regularly work more than that. We wanted to make sure that they got credit for their real hours, not just the "budgeted" hours. We didn't want to wait until the end of this year to get the bonuses, so we used last year's hours. It is not a perfect system, but it was the best we could come up with.

Why use hours paid instead of hours worked?

We didn't want the bonus to be reduced because people took vacation or sick time, had jury duty, bereavement time, etc.

I started part-way through last year, will I get a bonus?

Yes, but it will be pro-rated to reflect how long you have worked here. If you started full-time on July 1, then you worked 3 out of the 12 months in FY16, and you will get 1/4 of the bonus. You will also get the full 2% raise on January 1. (Any hours paid as a UMass Memorial employee in FY16, including per-diem hours, count for the pro-rating.)

Why do they withhold so much of the bonus in taxes?

The IRS requires UMass Memorial to withhold about 38% of any lump sum for taxes. This does not mean that you will end up paying 38% in taxes -- when you file your taxes for 2016, you will get back the difference between what you paid and what you actually owed at your real tax rate.

Example: I get $1,000 pre-tax. UMass withholds 38% ($380) in taxes. If my normal tax rate is 20%, then I really only owe $200. When I file my taxes, I will get the extra $180 back (or else the amount that I owe at tax time will be reduced by $180. Either way, I pay what I really owe, not the amount they withhold up front.)

Happy Holidays from SHARE

Happy holidays! SHARE members have done another year of wonderful good for medical research, patient care and all the support behind the scenes, and the local community . . . and that's just while you're on the clock.

We're very grateful to you for your all of your efforts, and for the ways that you've connected with SHARE in 2016 to amplify the effects of your hard work.

We're looking forward to SHARE's twentieth anniversary in 2017, and have more ambitious work to do. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.  Right now, we'd like to wish you a very joyful holiday season. Warmest thoughts and best wishes.

Small SHARE dues increase in 2017

How much will SHARE union dues be in 2017?

For 2017 dues will increase for most SHARE members by 17 cents per week. The old and dues new rates are below. The new rate will be effective on the first pay check you receive in January 2017.

	Per Week
	2016 rate	2017 rate
Regular dues rate	$8.57	$8.74
20-hours/week	$6.42	$6.55

Where does the money go?

The money from dues supports the work that SHARE does. It pays for the organizers' salaries, office rent and supplies, phones, printing costs and postage for mailings –  all the things we need to negotiate good contracts, keep people informed, help members to solve problems if they come up, and to support members in having a voice in the workplace. A portion of the dues also goes to our national union, AFSCME, in Washington, and helps to pay for other groups of employees forming unions in their workplaces, and for research and lobbying.

How is the dues increase determined?

Our national union, AFSCME, calculates the annual increase based on the average raise for AFSCME members across the country. The new rate goes into effect each January.

Are my SHARE dues eating up my raise every year?

No. The dues increase is 17 cents per week, so one hour of your 1/1/2017 raise more than pays for it. Every year SHARE members get bigger raises than non-union employees. The difference between a union raise and non-union raise is small some years and bigger in other years, but the difference definitely adds up over time. In addition, SHARE has worked hard to keep the employee share of the cost of health insurance low, which saves money for SHARE members. Each year the advantage of being in SHARE grows by having a voice in issues that affect us.

In what ways does having a union give SHARE members a voice?

• In contract negotiations, we have a voice in our pay, benefits and work policies.

• In union meetings and individual conversations, we have a voice in the direction and priorities of the union.

• Through the problem-solving process, we have a voice when individual problems or conflicts come up at work.

• In union elections, we have a voice in who our representatives will be.

• Through committees and ad-hoc negotiations, we have a voice in issues that face groups of SHARE members. 

Questions?

You can talk to any of our E-board members or local reps who are active with SHARE, or call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020 or email a SHARE organizer (click here for a directory).