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UAPD Puts CDCR on Notice

May 20, 2019

UAPD’s legal counsel of Weinberg, Roger, and Rosenfeld sent out a firm “cease and desist” letter this week to CDCR Secretary Ralph Diaz and Federal Receiver Clark Kelso. In the letter, UAPD has demanded that CDCR immediately stop any unilateral action on their part to change our members’ working conditions as specified in our MOU.

Specifically, we referred to recent member reports that their on-call schedule will be —or already has—changed. These proposed changes include forcing our members to work past their regular shifts and cover inmates from other nearby prisons. Also, that part-time physicians may be asked to take call. These are violations of our contract. Any such changes cannot be implemented without conferring with our union first or waiting until next year’s bargaining cycle. To implement these changes unilaterally or engage in “direct dealing” with our members would constitute an unfair labor practice.

If any of our members know of such mandates or actions by CDCR, please contact your steward, representative, or other UAPD staff. We will not stand idly by if these reports are true.

Unionized Physicians and Advanced Providers Win Back their Time and Money!

May 17, 2019

The Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) demonstrated its power to affect positive change in its first two contract negotiations in Washington state.

Stalled in bargaining for two years with the Multicare health system, UAPD members of the Legacy Urgent Care centers had enough. They organized a large informational picket with other labor groups in Washington. After peppering the employer with notices, flyers and news articles about a humane closing policy Multicare acceded to UAPD’s demands just before the scheduled picket. They agreed to allow urgent care physicians and advanced providers to leave at the end of their twelve-hour shifts. This concession is a major victory for the safe delivery of urgent care in Washington state and beyond.

In another equally historic contract victory, UAPD persuaded Multicare to eliminate its salary withhold policy for physicians at Auburn (WA) Medical Center. The draconian salary withholds of 10-20% are a common practice for health care system employers in Washington and the rest of the US. The employer typically holds back a portion of a physician’s salary “in escrow” until the physician employee satisfies certain performance criteria. Facing a formal unfair labor practice charge filed by UAPD, Multicare retracted their withhold policy in a mass memorandum to their employees. UAPD is continuing to break new ground and negotiate for better working conditions in other many physician contracts in California and Washington.

UAPD President Stuart Bussey, MD, JD summed up “…these two great accomplishments are but a preview of what unions can do for physicians and providers in both private and public health systems. Our contracts improve patient safety and prevent physician burnout. It’s beyond time to organize and take back our profession from employers with a weak moral compass.”

CCSF Negotiations Come To A Close While Ratification Revs Up

April 30, 2019

As of April 25th, UAPD’s bargaining team has wrapped up negotiations with the City and County of San Francisco. CCSF members will receive an email containing an agreement summary and a link to the ratification ballot within the next few days, so keep an eye out.

Many thanks to Tim Jenkins and our bargaining team’s hard work on negotiating this new three-year tentative agreement.

UAPD Proposals Implemented at DHCS for RAFT Program

April 25, 2019

In January, CAASD members notified us that employees were being asked to sign a new RAFT agreement. In response, the UAPD reached out to the department. The department replied by providing an update with the following changes, many of which are proposals that UAPD made back in August of last year:

1. Expectations were removed from the RAFT agreements
2. Only employees who perform telework are required to sign the RAFT agreement
3. The department removed the term “agreement” from the form

If you do not telework and you are being asked to sign a RAFT agreement, please contact your union representative and provide details.

Ratification for Los Angeles Contract On The Horizon

April 19, 2019

As UAPD schedules the ratification process for the new Los Angeles contract, it is important that we have your most up-to-date contact information. Voting will start soon and it is vital that every member gives their feedback on the new contract.

Please sign up here so you can get the most update contract summary and vote on your contract. You can also contact us via e-mail or by telephone with your newest contact information.

If you are currently on steps 1 – 10, please contact UAPD. If you would like to have a representative to meet with you, your department, or your clinic about the new contract, please contact our Southern California location at (310) 398-4038.

CPOE Complaints: How They Work and How UAPD Can Help

April 18, 2019

In the last few months, there has been an increase in County Policy of Equity (CPOE) Complaints filed against our members. It’s important to know your rights as a Union member when you are called by an investigator. Before you schedule that meeting, please contact UAPD. You have a right to have a union representative be with you during the investigation meeting.

If you’re unfamiliar with the CPOE, we now have a guide available. To learn more about the CPOE and how it works click here.

UAPD Sponsered Bill That Would Eliminate Copays for Inmates Passes First Committee

February 28, 2019

On February 26th, California’s Assembly Public Safety Committee voted to pass Assembly Bill 45, authored by Assemblymember Mark Stone (D-Santa Cruz). AB 45, which UAPD (Local AFSCME 206) has co-sponsored, would eliminate medical and dental co-payments and charges for health care appliances in prisons and jails. The passage comes on the heels of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) recent announcement that they will stop charging copayments for medical and dental services and appliances like dentures effective March 1, 2019.

Since 1995, California prisons have required a $5 medical copay from incarcerated people seeking medical or dental care. In most county jails, inmates must pay a copay of $3. California counties that do not collect medical co-payments from people in jail include Napa, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, and Tulare. In 2017, the Prison Policy Initiative calculated that someone earning prison job minimum wage would have to work over 60 hours to afford one copay. For many prisoners, this is often a costly choice that can result in deadly consequences. In 2003, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention identified copays as one of the factors contributing to an MRSA outbreak among incarcerated people in California. Proponents of the bill also argue that medical co-pays exacerbate racial inequities within public health. Because Black and Brown people are disproportionately incarcerated, barriers to affordable healthcare created through copays intensify existing racial health disparities.

The UAPD, alongside the ACLU of California, California Coalition for Women Prisoners, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, and Initiate Justice are now looking to the California Legislature to eliminate these co-payments and medical equipment charges in county jails and to ensure that they can’t be reinstated in state prison.

Arbitrator Mandates Alameda Health System Employ UAPD Psychiatrists

January 9, 2019

In July 2018, UAPD decisively won at arbitration against Alameda Health System (AHS). Two years prior to that time, AHS contracted out psychiatrists’ jobs in the psychiatric emergency services/triage services to Traditions Behavioral Health (TBH), flagrantly violating both UAPD’s MOU and a California statute, sponsored by UAPD, which protects those jobs. The arbitrator ruled AHS was clearly in violation of the MOU and the statute. The arbitrator then ruled that all of those positions MUST be returned to us! In September 2018, the arbitrator handed down his remedy (see below), outlining that by May 1, 2019, TBH’s contract for staffing PES (milieu and triage) must end, if not sooner (see paragraph #7 of the remedy). Currently, AHS is in violation of this remedy as they have failed to advertise the new psychiatric rates in violation of paragraph #3 of the remedy as the rates have been approved by AHS’ Board of Trustees. Our attorneys are now demanding that AHS abide by this remedy. The arbitrator retains jurisdiction to ensure that AHS does not drag its feet.

The remedy below represents a huge collective effort and victory for UAPD against the contractor, Traditions Behavioral Health.

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Multicare Urgent Care – Legacy Bargaining Team Agrees to Historic Contract

February 25, 2019

Facing an increasing media campaign and an imminent picketing demonstration by UAPD, Multicare Health Systems blinked. After 20 months at the bargaining table, one issue became the sticking point—the urgent care closing policy. Urgent Care doctors and providers wanted to maintain their ability to leave the clinic near the posted closing time. Our tentative agreement essentially preserves this right and will go a long way to prevent burnout and fatigue. In addition to the closing policy there are many other advancements in this first contract—just cause, salary increases with a reduction in total shifts, a new grievance system, to name a few. Legacy bargaining unit members will be voting on this new contract in the coming weeks.

This tentative agreement with Multicare represents the first collective bargaining between a physician and provider union and a private corporate health care organization in the state of Washington and one of the first in the western United States. It will undoubtedly give hope to other doctors and providers who are working as employees without a voice. UAPD has another potential agreement close at hand with Multicare/Auburn Medical center. The next session will be on March 13. We will keep you posted.

Join Us For UAPD Happy Hour

September 17, 2018

Beginning tomorrow evening and every third Tuesday of the month, UAPD members can participate in a virtual happy hour. Discuss current events, UAPD news, and legislation. Share travel stories, sports, food and wine tips… and anything else that interests you. The call-in number is (310) 372-7549 and the code is ‘386201’.

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