State of California Doctors

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Memorandum of Understanding — State Bargaining Unit 16 (PDF)

State Telemedicine Issues

When the telepsychiatry program was first launched by the Department of Corrections, psychiatrists were told that they would not have to cover On-call assignments. The Department then decided to start requiring them to cover on-call assignments. The Department changed telepsychiatry working conditions without noticing the UAPD. The UAPD met with the Department to discuss a proposed policy. CDCR has not updated the policy to reflect the agreed upon changes from the last meeting. Nonetheless, CDCR has added additional telepsychiatry sites without noticing the UAPD. The UAPD has filed a Cease and Desist regarding implemented changes to the program without notice to the union. There is new language in the State tentative agreement regarding teleprograms.

Multiple grievances have been filed on telemedicine issues at the prisons When the telemedicine program was first launched by California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS), physicians were told that they would not have to cover on-call assignments. The department then decided to start requiring them to cover on-call assignments, without noticing the UAPD. A grievance was filed, and the Department responded by notifying the UAPD that they were initiating a telemedicine on-call pilot program. That program failed and the Department concluded that they will not be requiring telemedicine doctors to cover on-call assignments. There is currently no language in the union contract regarding teleprograms. The UAPD has proposed language to address concerns.

State BU 16 Docs Ratify Contract

On Tuesday, February 28, 2017, the UAPD Bargaining Team reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) on a new Memorandum of Understanding with the State of California. The new agreement will was ratified by UAPD members and will go into effect once approved by the State Legislature.

UAPD was the last union to settle a contract with the State of California because the Bargaining Team refused to accept the substandard proposals the State kept giving them. The membership gave the team the power to stand firm with an overwhelmingly positive strike authorization vote. Member energy and member outrage were instrumental in making the State come around on several key issues in the final days. While the tentative agreement did not go as far as the team had hoped in some areas, it was worthy of recommending to the membership, who ratified it by a strong margin. You can read more details of the agreement here.

UAPD Corrects Underpayments to UC Doctors

The UAPD contract guaranteed lump-sum payments for student health center doctors, giving retroactive raises for the period during which contract negotiations took place. The ten campuses issued these payments at various times in the months after bargaining concluded. Soon after, UAPD heard from members at several campuses who were concerned they had not received the full amount they were due.

To address that concern, UAPD first reached a common understanding with UCOP on the correct methodology to calculate the retroactive payments. The Union eventually secured spreadsheets from the payroll departments on each campus showing the methodologies they used and the results. The Union did a detailed audit of those calculations, which showed that while a few campuses had calculated the payments correctly, most campuses had made mistakes resulting in underpayments to doctors. Those underpayments ranged from $3.82 (for people who were first employed late in the retroactive period) to $8,737 (for someone whose retroactive payment and a subsequent raise were completely missed).
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State Doctors Weigh In on”Lift and Shift”

The Governor’s Proposed Budget for the fiscal year 2017-2018 contains language to have the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and the California Correctional Health Care System assume responsibility for psychiatric programs now run under the auspices of the Department of State Hospitals (DSH-Salinas Valley, DSH-Stockton, and DSH-Vacaville). The potential transfer is being called “lift and shift” for short.

Since the announcement of the “lift and shift”, DSH-Stockton has lost at several psychiatrists. The department continues to notice the union as new details of the transfer become available. The UAPD has sent a survey to impacted employees at both CDCR and DSH for feedback on the announcement. A Meet and Confer will be scheduled with both departments to discuss Bargaining Unit 16 (BU16) impact concerns.

UAPD to State: No Deal

After two days of intense negotiations, the UAPD Bargaining Team must report that no deal has been reached with the State of California. The offer put forward by the State did not adequately address the serious issues raised by our doctors, including high vacancy rates and dangerous understaffing in many facilities. We have heard from members all across the State that we should settle for nothing less than a fair contract, and that’s what we plan to do. We will return to the table in January, and continue preparations for taking collective action if necessary

Rights During an SEIU 1000 Strike

UAPD State-employed doctors have asked whether they have the right to strike alongside SEIU workers this coming Monday (aka sympathy strike). The short answer is no, UAPD-represented doctors do not have the right to engage in a sympathy strike with another union at this time.

UAPD-doctors who want to support their SEIU colleagues can join them on the picket lines on their own time (e.g. before or after work, or during vacation, CTO, annual leave). You can read more about the SEIU strike plans here.
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State Has Done Little To Fix Doc Shortage at Prisons

Press Release (Oakland) — On Tuesday the State’s Office of the Inspector General issued a report that gave Salinas Valley State Prison (SVSP) a failing grade for the medical care it provides to inmates at the Soledad facility. Fifteen years after a lawsuit in which a federal judge ruled that the health care given in California prisons constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” the Inspector General found that SVSP still demonstrates “a profound inability to provide patients with adequate access to care.”

Much of the problem comes from an on-going shortage of physicians in California prisons. According to the Inspector General’s report: “Of critical importance was SVSP’s shortage of providers and extreme difficulty with recruitment and retention of qualified physicians. This inadequate staffing at SVSP led to an institutional backlog of over 400 patients at the time of the onsite inspection, and contributed to the inadequate rating.”

Currently, there are four physicians working onsite at Salinas Valley State Prison, treating over 3800 prisoners. The physician shortage is a pervasive problem affecting most of the 34 state adult prisons in California.

On Wednesday the Associated Press reported that California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) spokesperson Joyce Hayhoe “agreed that the prison has a serious, ongoing doctor shortage and said officials are trying to hire doctors.” However, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), which is now negotiating with the State on behalf of prison doctors, believes not enough is being done. UAPD asserts that recruitment and retention is still a serious problem that is affecting patient care.

“The State can’t hire more doctors because doctors can work elsewhere with better compensation and working conditions,” reported Dr. Stuart A. Bussey, president of UAPD. “At the bargaining table we’ve made multiple proposals that would help with prison doctor recruitment, but the State has said no to every one of them.”

“These are not easy patients,” according to Dr. Fernando Tuvera, a physician at SVSP. “I am moved from unit to unit, treating people with injuries, Hepatitis C, end-stage liver disease, COPD, diabetes, and many other conditions. We work long hours during the day, and the four of us have to divide up all the after-hours coverage too. That means one week per month I’m working all day and all night. We need more doctors here.”

The Union has also filed grievances at SVSP over the effects of inadequate staffing on the few remaining doctors, and proposed remedies that would help alleviate the strain. Those grievances were denied by CCHCS.

Additional Raise for CSU Doctors

By now California State University doctors have all received the 3 percent cost of living increase resulting from the Side Letter Agreement with CSU. An additional 2 percent increase was also negotiated, which will go into effect on June 30, 2017. At that time, we will be negotiating with CSU for the next contract, as well. In addition, negotiations continue with CSU on the creation of new specialty physician classifications and associated salary ranges. An announcement will go out when we have updated information.

State Bargaining Update 8/19/16 – No Deal

Our goal as a team is to get the best possible contract for doctors, one which addresses the economic and non-economic issues that many of you have raised. We wanted to reach a tentative agreement with the State by the end of this week, so that the Legislature could approve it before leaving for its summer recess. We have met 25 times over the last 4 months trying to do just that. More than a dozen doctors from every department have joined us at the bargaining table, to give thoughtful, well-documented presentations on the biggest problems that members of our union face. Read more …

State Bargaining Update 8/8/16

As we go further along in the bargaining process, the State is bringing forward more information to address the workplace concerns we’ve raised at the table. For instance, we had further discussion of the lack of appropriate break areas, especially within CDCR. The State said redesigned CDCR facilities would incorporate break rooms for doctors’ work areas. In a separate discussion, DSS management clarified that the rules that restrict the number of people on leave at the same time were being misinterpreted in some branches. They agreed to educate managers about the fact that more than 25% of doctors in a branch can be on leave simultaneously. Read more …

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