What Was SHARE Working On?
October & November 2020
Unit-Based Teams
This fall 8 new Unit Based Teams are launching. In October, the union and new management co-leads and co-sponsors were trained. The new UBTs launching include Lifeflight Communications, Cancer Center in the ACC, Memorial Cat Scan, Diabetes Clinic, Memorial Inpatient Prescription Center, and the Antepartum Ultrasound in the Women’s Center.
Labor-Management Partnership Council
This month's LMPC meeting focused on engagement scores and child care. We talked about how meetings in departments to share the scores are going, and whether the SHARE-UMass Memorial joint statement on flexibility for child care issues is helping SHARE members make arrangements that allow them to juggle home and work responsibilities.
Preparing for Negotiations
The SHARE Executive Board is beginning to discuss what we need to do to prepare for contract negotiations. (The last raise of the contract is 10/1/2021, and the contract expires 9/30/2022.)
SHARE Fellowship
SHARE’s first Front-Line Leader Fellow was Kona Enders. Kona is a PCA on 3 West. She worked part-time with SHARE for September and October, going to meetings about all these topics with SHARE organizers. Her projects included meeting new SHARE members to give them information about the union and sign them up as members, and working to start an Inpatient PCA committee at University.
Planning for a Second COVID Surge
SHARE leaders continue to meet with senior managers about how SHARE members’ experience in the first surge, and how to plan ahead for the 2nd surge. SHARE proposed that we try to find volunteers ahead for inpatient one-to-ones, and offer training. The survey got 170 responses!
SHARE distributed face shields donated by the Worcester Face Shield Project.
Hazard Pay
SHARE continues to talk to management about hazard pay. We are not getting very far. When the issue was raised at September’s SHARE Rep meeting with Dr. Gustafson, he told the SHARE Reps at last month's meeting that the hospital prioritized keeping everyone employed -- no layoffs or furloughs -- over hazard pay.
The HEROES Act went nowhere in Congress before the election, so there’s no hazard pay funding from the federal level at the moment. However, SHARE will continue to monitor the politics of funding for hazard pay on both the state and federal level. We will prioritize lobbying again after the election if it looks possible.
New mandatory flu vaccine policy
SHARE collected members concerns over the new mandatory flu policy, set up meetings with management about them, and SHARE published info for members: Q & A about the medical questions for members and Q & A about the HR Issues.
Employee Assistance Program
SHARE is concerned about the change in EAP services from the Medical School EAP to Optum, an outside company. SHARE met with management to learn about the new Optum plan and sent contact info to SHARE members. We are collecting SHARE member feedback about the old EAP services – please take the survey! If you have an experience with the new one, we'd love to hear what you thought of it too. (The EASE fund will stay the same, and its administration is transferring from the Medical School EAP to Optum.)
Childcare
In August and September, SHARE organizers worked with individual SHARE members who were struggling to deal with remote school and work schedules. In many cases, but certainly not all, we were able to help make flexible arrangements. That work has quieted down in October, though SHARE Organizers are following up with members got one-month trial arrangements – we hope that trial run Work From Home will be extended.
SHARE worked with management to look at turn-over numbers comparing August 2019 to August 2020, and it doesn’t look like there was a lot of extra SHARE members leaving with the start of school.
Paid Family Medical Leave and Short-Term Disability
The hospital is changing the short term disability plan. SHARE has asked for meetings with management to understand the changes and get a preview of the materials that are going out to members now. Look for a SHARE factsheet about Short Term Disability and Mass. Paid Family Medical Leave soon. You can cancel or start an STD plan anytime, so it doesn’t have to be done before the end of open enrollment.
Problem-Solving (on-going)
SHARE Organizers and Reps go to meetings with individual SHARE members to provide support and make sure the process is fair. The meetings may be disciplinary, coaching, or about an issue the member brings up that they want support with. Recent meetings include HIPPA violations and sleeping while doing a one-to-one (maybe because there’s so much OT from open PCA positions on the inpatient floors right now).
Department Solving (on-going)
SHARE Organizers work with a group of members about a department issue that they would like to fix. This month in particular some departments are meeting to talk about their engagement scores, and what projects to take on to improve them.
SHARE Rep Meeting in October
The monthly meeting focused on: the EAP change, the new policy about the mandatory flu vaccine, engagement score presentations in departments, and How to be a Union in COVID.
SHARE'd Stories: Profiles of SHARE members
SHARE’d Stories is a way to honor the work of SHARE members -- hospital workers aren't just doctors and nurses!SHARE is expanding our writers who can interview SAHRE members for the SHARE blog.
New members
SHARE is updating the new member section of the SHARE website. We now have virtual union membership cards so new people can sign up without meeting in person, if that’s difficult. (SHARE held new member meetings in August to orient newly hired SHARE folks.)