As members of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), we are asking Los Angeles County to expand the Megaflex benefit plan to include more of our members. Currently, only about 30% of Bargaining Unit 324 physicians and veterinarians and none of the Bargaining Unit 325 dentists and psychiatrists are part of Megaflex. We believe that all of them should be included.
It’s the right thing to do for many reasons, including:
EQUITY: It the gives physicians, psychiatrists, veterinarians and dentists working on direct care the same quality benefits that their supervisors and many other LA County professional workers have. Especially in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is unfair to give lesser benefits to front line workers whose work puts them at the greatest risk.
RECRUITMENT: Megaflex was created as a tool to attract and retain professional employees, and it would certainly function that way for physicians, dentists, veterinarians and psychiatrists. The reduction in doctor retirement benefits after the passage of the California Public Employees\' Pension Reform Act (PEPRA) makes financial incentives like Megaflex more important than ever.
FAIRNESS: Other professional workers who organized later than the doctors did have been allowed to participate in the Megaflex plan. UAPD members should also benefit from the legal and legislative path they made.
RECTIFICATION: It’s a chance to reverse the results of an anti-union campaign run by previous County leadership. Los Angeles doctors were removed from Megaflex to punish them for unionizing and to dissuade other professional workers from doing the same.
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