UAPD Files Grievance Against San Mateo for Illegal Time-Off Policy

April 25, 2018

UAPD filed a grievance against the County for illegally denying time off to doctors in the dental department. All of the dentists are women. Their Dental Director has unilaterally implemented a policy of “only one dentist off at one time” regardless of the clinic! As a result, UAPD is meeting with County representative to fight the discriminatory impact of this policy.

In other news, UAPD members shall be receiving a 3% Cola on May 6, 2018. UAPD negotiated an increase based on CPI.

Salary Increases for Gardner Family Health Network

April 25, 2018

The UAPD Bargaining Committee reached an agreement with GFHN last Monday, April 9, 2018. These are the highest salary increases negotiated for our members working at Gardner. Due to the competitive market in the San Jose area, the employer agreed to market adjustments for each specialty and COLAs for the next three years. COLAs begin on July 1, 2019 at 2.5%; 3%; and 3%. A wage reopener is scheduled for 90 days before the end of the 3^rd year of the contract. We also negotiated a 6% base increase for those employees with 15 years or more seniority and we expanded the use of supervising pay of 3%. We also negotiated increased employer contributions into the employees’ individual Health savings account and paid time off for attendance at UAPD Board Meetings.

The agreement is currently being ratified by the membership.

Activism On The Rise At Harbor UCLA

April 25, 2018

Activism at Harbor UCLA is picking up steam in the Pediatrics department regarding a wellness in
service as well as in Internal Medicine with the Hospitalist workgroup. Harbor is working
with OVMC to put together a job specification that may help during bargaining. We
are helping Radiology with acquiring the nine radiologists that they need to be at
normal capacity.

We have also received support from Harbor Administration and several
departments to put together in services on topics that reach multiple disciplines.
We are working with Pediatrics, the Hospitalists, Surgery, Radiology, and soon we
will be meeting with OB/GYN.

Recruitment and membership are on the rise! However, we are still dealing with active
anti-union sentiment by several department heads. We are actively working around
them by using the programs discussed below to gain access to the departments.
We are in the midst of preparing a quarterly member meeting at Harbor. It should be
realized in the next month or two.

Message from UAPD President about upcoming LA County Contract and Salary Negotiations

April 20, 2018

Dear LA County Colleague:

Please click on the 88-second video message below to hear how your colleagues plan to improve your MOU and how you can help by (re)committing yourself to full UAPD membership.

After watching the video click the appropriate link at the bottom. You will be redirected to a Docu-sign membership form.

Thanks.

Stuart Bussey, M.D., J.D.
UAPD President

LA County Physicians, Psychiatrists, and Dentists (BU 324/325) click here

LA County Pharmacists (BU 301) click here.

Doctors: Independent Professionals or Government Agents?

April 2, 2018

By Stuart A. Bussey, MD, JD, UAPD President

The sad look in my patient’s eyes reached down to the pit of my stomach “I only want to drive a couple of miles to my friend’s house” he lamented. But Carl’s progressive dementia and arthritis couldn’t allow me to sign his DMV driver’s license form. Increasingly, we physicians have been placed in the often uncomfortable position of being both the investigator and enforcer of privileges involving health issues. Driving, adoption, school and sports participation, employment, disability, competence, and conservatorship are only some of them. Institutions, especially our governments, look to us for guidance and assign liability to our decisions.

This holds special relevance for our UAPD doctors who are employed in various levels of government. What happens when our professional judgment and scientific reasoning collide with the protocols of an agency or a supervisor with a personal agenda? We have all experienced conflicts regarding patient care or disposition with our supervisors and administrators. Debates about appropriate medications at CDCR, discharge decisions at County hospitals or claimant disability at DSS often make us feel that we are mere tools of government, not independent practitioners.
Read more …

BU 16 On-Call Assignment Now Less Onerous for Some Institutions

February 21, 2018

Bargaining Unit 16 employees at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation are starting to see some relief from high call volumes and workloads that have been stretching the limits of what can be considered a reasonable expectation for after-hours Physician On-Call assignments.

Building on newly negotiated contract language, “mini-MOD” assignments are being tested at Central California Women’s Facility, CSP-Los Angeles County, Mule Creek State Prison, Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility, California Institute for Men, Kern Valley State Prison, and Salinas Valley State Prison.

Members—and represented BU 16 employees—who are not currently part of the testing should contact their UAPD steward or union representative to discuss the viability of bringing this new MOD to your facility.

If you are not a member of the union, please use this link to become one. High union density enables employees, including BU 16 doctors, to bargain over issues that impact working conditions and patient care.

A Brief Update on Sierra Conservation Center

February 13, 2018

SCC recently rolled out the Electronic Health Record System (EHRS). A grievance was filed regarding the inadequate training. The department has agreed to provide additional training to staff.

The UAPD participated in the Meet and Confer process regarding the installation of additional security cameras to be placed at SCC.

Management has not been honoring vacation requests pursuant to the BU 16 MOU. The UAPD is working with the local labor representative to ensure Bargaining Unit 16 members time-off/vacation requests are honored pursuant to the contract. There is a scheduled meeting to follow-up on management’s committed to counseling the supervising dentists and rectifying the situation so BU 16 members are afforded time-off/vacations requests pursuant to the MOU, as opposed to arbitrarily.

A Summary of the AHS January 24th Membership Meeting

February 1, 2018

On Wednesday, January 24th, a UAPD representative for AHS met with your colleagues following the monthly provider meeting. We had a very good, engaging meeting. UAPD gave a brief update on the status of negotiations, which is advancing at a very slow pace due to AHS’s inability to provide the Union with necessary information.

UAPD also clarified to our members that the Union did NOT agree to the following changes:

UAPD did not agree to change the patient scheduling start times at the Ambulatory Care Clinics!
UAPD did not agree to require doctors to make-up PTO time approved with less than 90 days advance notice!

The Union did, however, agree to require 90 days advance notice for PTO requests because this time frame is an improvement from the current terms of the MOU, which requires PTO requests to be submitted at the beginning of each year.

UAPD will continue to fight AHS’s attempts to unilaterally make changes to your work conditions without first notifying and meeting with the Union. It is an unfair labor practice to directly deal with UAPD members about their terms and conditions of employment. UAPD will pursue an Unfair Labor Charge against AHS for violating your rights.

NEW BARGAINING SUBCOMMITTEE

Many doctors were very interested in participating in the current negotiations. UAPD is happy to announce that Dr. Laura Wise (Hayward) will be at the table as the latest member of the negotiating committee. Also, the doctors have formed a bargaining subcommittee to discuss proposals and information on an ongoing basis. These meetings will take place during non-work hours at a time and place agreed upon. The first of these sub-committee meetings will take place on Thursday, February 8th at 5:30 PM at the following location:

Caffe Trieste
4045 Piedmont Avenue (near 41st Street)
Oakland, CA 94611

More updates will be provided as negotiations continue.

Santa Cruz County Incentive Payments Forthcoming

January 31, 2018

On January 29, UAPD representatives met with Santa Cruz management to discuss the status of incentive payments pursuant to provisions of the MOU. Under article 7.2, of the MOU, eligible UAPD-represented employees would qualify for a quarterly incentive pay of up to 15% of their base pay starting July 1, 2017. At this meeting management presented UAPD for the first time with specific data related to providers qualifications for the incentive pay for the 2017 quarters ranging from July 1 to September 30 and October 1 to December 31. After careful discussion, UAPD asked for management to make temporary discretionary adjustments to the policy so that more providers would qualify for incentive pay for the quarters reviewed. Once an understanding is reached, providers can expect for the County to then make the payments for the first quarter.

If a provider has any questions or concerns about this issue, they are encouraged to discuss it with a member of UAPD’s team who attended the meeting: Dr. Brooks, Dr. Santillano, Dr. Yazgan or UAPD representatives Albert Munoz or Nereyda Rivera.

Grievances filed against CDCR’s Telemedicine and Telepsychiatry Programs

January 28, 2018

When the telemedicine and telepsychiatry programs were first launched by the department, 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. The Department changed telemedicine working conditions without notifying 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.

We filed a grievance regarding Additional Appointments for Telemedicine. The Department has now said that telemedicine has a right to Additional appointments.

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 notifying the UAPD.

We filed a Cease and Desist regarding implemented changes to the program without notice to the union. The UAPD had a Meet and Confer with the Department to discuss the opening of the Diamond Bar location.

The UAPD has scheduled quarterly Telehealth Committee Meetings to address these issues.

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UAPD Files Grievance Against San Mateo for Illegal Time-Off Policy

Salary Increases for Gardner Family Health Network

Activism On The Rise At Harbor UCLA

Message from UAPD President about upcoming LA County Contract and Salary Negotiations

Doctors: Independent Professionals or Government Agents?

BU 16 On-Call Assignment Now Less Onerous for Some Institutions

A Brief Update on Sierra Conservation Center

A Summary of the AHS January 24th Membership Meeting

NEW BARGAINING SUBCOMMITTEE

Santa Cruz County Incentive Payments Forthcoming

Grievances filed against CDCR’s Telemedicine and Telepsychiatry Programs