Los Angeles County Physicians
Memorandum of Understanding between Los Angeles County BU 324 and UAPD (expires September 30, 2011)
Major Grievance Victories in LA County
As important as negotiating strong contracts is enforcing them, and in 2010 UAPD has had great success in holding Los Angeles County to the terms of our contracts.
Read More about LA County Grievance Victories
Los Angeles BU 324 & 325 Settle Contracts
On September 25, 2009 the UAPD Bargaining Team from BU 324 reached a tentative agreement for a successor contract with the County of Los Angeles. The bargaining teams started negotiations with one main goal in mind – to protect members’ take home paychecks during these challenging economic times. The new agreements reach that goal.
Summary of BU 324 Agreement
Summary of BU 325 Agreement
Read More About Los Angeles Negotiations
Negotiations Have Begun
Negotiations between the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) Bargaining Unit 324 and the County of Los Angeles have begun. The first bargaining session took place on Thursday, August 6, 2009. Read More About Los Angeles Negotiations
Los Angeles County Doctors Vote for Fair Share Fees
With all the ballots counted, Los Angeles physicians voted in favor of instituting Fair Share Fees in their bargaining unit. Now all physicians, regardless of their membership status, will share—fairly!—the costs of running a union from which all physicians benefit. The decision to institute Fair Share Fees, which received strong majority backing in this vote, will dramatically increase the strength and effectiveness of the Union in Los Angeles. More on Los Angeles County Fair Share Fees
UAPD Resolves Payroll Errors Plaguing Los Angeles Doctors
As of 5-8-09, UAPD has written confirmation from Los Angeles County Payroll and Personnel Services that it will correct the paychecks of Los Angeles County/UCLA doctors who had not received the January 3% increase negotiated by UAPD last year. Those affected will see the increase on their 5/15/09 paycheck, including the retroactive pay for the last four months. Dr. Rex Cheng, a UAPD Board member and Harbor UCLA physician, and staff member Jake Baxter worked hard to ensure that the county acknowledged their error, and corrected it quickly. UCLA doctors can contact the payroll office to learn if they are among those who have been underpaid.
Stipend Negotiations Reaching an End
You may have already heard the good news! Last week the County and UAPD signed off on an historic agreement on how the USC County Physicians’ stipends and benefits will be forthwith handled. Under the new agreement, all tenured physicians will stay on the County’s old Schedule P pay plan and continue to receive whatever stipends and benefits USC provides them—in other words, for tenured physicians, things are as they were before. Non-tenured current cash stipend will be incorporated into their base salary as they are placed on the County’s new Schedule D pay plan, as described in Article 7, Salaries, Section 2A of the recent BU 324 MOU. The effective date for placement on Schedule D will be retroactive to July 1, 2008. Those non-tenured professors who decide to maintain their current situation will remain on the County’s old Schedule P pay plan and continue to receive USC stipends and benefits. Representatives from Los Angeles County, USC and UAPD will be available to meet one-on-one with Physicians to explain the impact of all three options on each person’s individual circumstances. We anticipate a similar agreement will be reached regarding stipended UCLA physicians very shortly. These agreements are the result of the intense and creative negotiation between UAPD and the County since the early summer. physicians, however, will be offered a choice of becoming a University employee, becoming a County employee, or maintaining their current relationship with USC and the County. Those who choose to become University employees will have all their compensation provided by USC. Those who choose to become County employees will be paid exclusively by the County and lose their status as paid USC employees, although they can maintain their working relationship with the University. Their
Fair Share Campaign Update
As of Monday, September 22, UAPD has kicked off our BU 324 fair share campaign. We are asking members who haven’t done so already to sign and return a card or petition to express their support for holding an election on the fair share issue – call the UAPD office at 1-800-504-8273 if you need a card. We are quickly approaching our goal for collecting cards, and expect to ask the Employee Relations Commission (ERCOM) to hold a fair share election within the next few weeks. If over 50% of voting members vote "yes" in the election, all 664 BU 324 Physicians will become either UAPD members, with full voting rights, or fair share fee payers. We need you as a dedicated UAPD member to vote yes when ERCOM sends you the agency shop ballot in the mail.
Schwarzenegger Vetoes UAPD-Sponsored Safety Retirement Bill
Earlier this year Assembly Member Mervyn Dymally (D-Los Angeles) introduced legislation, sponsored by UAPD, to reclassify physicians working in a Los Angeles County Jail or Los Angeles County Mental Health Facility, after a Board of Supervisors resolution, as "safety members," who would earn higher retirement contributions. These LA County physicians would have become be the first group of county physicians to be classified as safety members, as some state physicians already are. Although the bill passed the full Assembly and the Senate, on September 28th, Governor Schwarzenegger vetoed the bill.
UAPD and LA County Officials Meet over Stipend Issue
On Monday, August 4th, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) and LA County officials met for the third time to negotiate over the salaries of LA County doctors who are paid in part through University stipends. Article 7, Section 2, Subsection “A”, of our MOU allowed UAPD to re-open negotiations in the event that the County and the Universities were unable to quickly reach agreement on the future of the stipend program; to date, the County-University negotiations remain open. UAPD opened its negotiations with the County by proposing to give physicians who receive stipends three options from which to choose. Option one is to stay at the status quo and wait out the County’s talks with UCLA and USC. Option two is to roll over 50% of the stipend amount into the pensionable base pay immediately and add in the balance upon settlement of the issue. And option three is to roll over the entire amount of the stipend into the pensionable base salary immediately, and also receive the next step increase under the new pay plan of the new MOU.
The County rejected our three-part proposal outright and responded with a “no movement” proposal. The UAPD countered with a proposal for retroactivity on any agreement, so regardless of when the County settles with the two Universities, doctors will receive full pay reaching back to July 1, 2008. We will hear the county’s response to this proposal on August 18th, the day of our next bargaining session.
UCLA, USC, and LA County Still Negotiating Over Doctor Stipends
As many of you know, a significant number of LA County-employed doctors receive a paycheck from the county and a separate stipend payment from either UCLA or USC. Those stipends are funded by monies paid by the county to each university, and the universities control the distribution of individual stipends. The county has declared its interest in stopping the stipend system, while both universities have declared their interest in maintaining it; both sides are currently negotiating the matter separate from UAPD. If the County and the Universities have not yet reached an agreement, the new contract allows the Union to reopen bargaining over the salaries of this group of doctors on June 15. UAPD will notify LA County doctors should the wage re-opener become necessary.
LA County Contract Goes Into Effect
The MOU covering Los Angeles County doctors, overwhelmingly ratified by LA County UAPD members on February 22nd, was finally approved by the LA County Board of Supervisors on May 27th. The wage increases set forth by the agreement are retroactive to January 1, 2008, so doctors will receive a check that includes the money owed from the previous five months.
UAPD Sponsors Bill to Grant Safety Retirement Benefits to LA County Doctors
The union has long been committed to winning for county doctors the same retirement enhancements that have been granted to state doctors who work under risky conditions. AB 1917 would take a first step in that direction by granting safety retirement benefits to county doctors in Los Angeles.