University of Washington Human Resources

RFPU – UW Negotiations Recap for Wednesday, February 16, 2022

RFPU – UW Negotiations Recap for Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Background
This recap details the third virtual session for the renewal of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the University of Washington and the Resident and Fellow Physicians Union (RFPU). Recaps are published online on the UW Labor Relations website.

During this session attendees learned more about the UW Medicine financials and how residents or fellows are funded. This presentation was made by University of Washington’s Enterprise Finance Officer, Maureen Broom, and Director of Government Accounting, Dwane Liuska.
Tentative Agreements

The parties tentatively agreed to the following:

Article 23 – Subordination of Agreement and Authority

• This article states that if any provision contained within be declared invalid by legislation or court decree then the parties would meet and negotiate. The remaining parts or provisions of this agreement would remain in full force and effect.
• This article also states that this agreement supersedes and replaces the Residency and Fellowship Position Appointment.
• Finally, the parties would agree that state or national requirements would not be appropriate subjects for bargaining.

Side Letter A – Communication

• Side Letter A, regarding the Employer providing all known non state operated emails and phone numbers for potential new members by May each year, was agreed by both parties to be struck. Striking this letter was only agreed upon since it was now a part of Article 5: Dues Deduction and RFPU Membership.

RFPU Counter Proposals

Time Off Bereavement – In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union countered with having seven continuous or noncontinuous days of Bereavement leave where the Employer had originally proposed current contract language of three with the possibility of two additional if travel is required.

Disciplinary Action and Just Cause – In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union proposed that a focus of concern would be grievable where the Employer stated that as a non-disciplinary action a focus of concern was not grievable. The Union also proposed that if a Resident was the subject of a focus of concern and would be discussed at a Clinical Competency Committee meeting then the Resident would be notified and would be able to have union representation attend.

Time Off Sick – In response to the Employer’s proposal, the Union counter proposed that Residents would not need to make advanced notice to utilize sick time off; the Union instead proposed that Residents would only need to notify their supervising attending.

UW Counter Proposals

Compensation – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer counter-proposed that Salary Schedule would be recalibrated with a one percent increase per contract year. The Employer also proposed a $500 increase to the current stipends/allowances as well as changing the way that the allowances are paid.

Definition of a Day – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer counter-proposed not to accept the Union’s definition of a Day. The Union proposed that a Day would be from 12:00am to 11:59pm. The Employer’s reason was that a Day was defined differently in the Union’s proposal for Article 16. Continued conversation on that Article would help determine how a Day was defined. The Union agreed.

Step Two Process – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer proposed that the Employer would have 30 days in which to issue a response to the grievance meeting in addition to the Union’s 30 days to escalate upon receipt of a Step One decision.

Arbitrators – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer proposed that arbitrators would be assigned cases by the parties on a rotating basis. That the next arbitrator on the list would be selected until a person was available to hear the case. This would be in response to a coin flip to decide which party would strike the first name on a list of arbitrators.

Time Off Bereavement – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer declined to accept the Union’s proposal of up to seven continuous or noncontinuous days. The Employer also declined to accept the Union’s proposed additional language of when additional days may be granted. The Employer proposed adding language that would indicate miscarriage or stillbirth as reason to utilize bereavement time off. The Employer also rejected the Union’s proposed language that would have limited the application of bereavement.

Washington Family Medical Leave Program (PFML) – In response to the Union’s proposal, the Employer clarified what types of paid leave are eligible and accepted supplemental benefits as proposed by the Union.

Management Rights – The Employer rejected the Union’s proposal to eliminate the Employer’s right to schedule Resident’s.

Duration – The Employer presented for tentative agreement Article 26: Duration. In this Article, the agreement would become effective upon ratification or July 1, 2022, whichever was later, and would be in force through June 30 2025. This Article was not moved to tentative agreement by the Union.

Next Steps
The next RFPU and UW bargaining session is scheduled for Wednesday, February 23, 2022 and will be held virtually.