Feb 20, 2008  
Bargaining – 2/19/08
 
Management presented their counter on retirement...more status quo...

Today, management presented their proposal on Article 24: Retirement Plan.

Again, for management, it was status quo. Management "counter proposed" its present 403(b) plan, or 'defined contributions': Enloe puts in 3% of an employee's pay after the employee has completed 1000 hours of employment. Then, Enloe would also put in another 3% if the employee contributed at least 6% of their pay. So, an employee could get the equivalent of 12% of their pay contributed for their 6% contribution. The employee could also contribute more than 6%, but without any further matching by Enloe.

The hospital's defined contribution plan is a good plan, but Charlie, UHW’s chief negotiator, explained that it is a limited plan as the money at the time of retirement is a lump some, which could, after retirement, easily get used up. Charlie argued that a three-tier approach is necessary to fully take care of an employee after retirement with the three tiers being:
1. Social Security
2. Defined Contributions Plan, 403(b)
3. Defined Benefits Pension Plan

So, the union proposed ADDING a 'defined benefits' pension plan which would GUARANTEE A MONTHLY PAYMENT FOR THE REST OF THE EMPLOYEE'S LIFE. With this proposed defined benefits plan, Enloe would pay the equivalent of an additional 2% of the employee's wages into the SEIU National Industry Pension Fund. Enloe would then see that the employee received a monthly check that would be equivalent to about 60% of the employee's monthly wages.

The three tiers would work TOGETHER after retirement to provide financial independence for the employee.

Management said that the union's defined benefits plan would be at the mercy of "a bunch of people in Washington" where the plan's administrators are based. Charlie said management's statement is simply a fear tactic. He said that the plan is administered by expert investors with proven experience. The administration said the pension is tied to the stock market. Charlie said that both the 'contributions' and the 'benefits' plans are tied to the stock market.

Management, in effect, made no movement on this article. We on the union side of the table decided to wait on this article until after the administration presented their counter proposals for our wages proposal and our training and education proposal, the last two 'economic' proposals not yet bargained.

The bargaining team inquired about retiree health insurance coverage, as this is also a retirement concern. Management stated it was presented during our discussions on the health insurance proposal. The administration's counter proposal is basically COBRA where the employee pays, and it’s not cheap, amounting to $392.95 for the employee, $797.17 for the employee and spouse, and for the employee and family $1,160.54. The union wants fully funded retiree insurance from the employer.

The next time we bargain – Thursday, March 6th – we will start negotiating on our UHW training fund proposal, which would help employees advance at work. The administration said they probably would still not be ready on March 6th with a counter proposal to our wage scale proposal that we gave them last week.

As of today, there remain only four articles on which the administration has not presented any counters: wages, training, organizing rights, and the term [length] of the contract. There are also 13 other articles on which we have bargained but not reached any agreement, including:
• PTO
• Subcontracting
• Health Insurance
• No Strike No Lockout
• Grievance and Arbitration
• Committees
We have reached agreement on 22 articles, plus some non-contract items.

Other bargaining dates:
Tuesday, March 18
Thursday, March 20
Monday, March 24
Monday, March 31

We are moving forward with signatures on our petition of support for our bargaining team, but we need others to step up and help. There may still be some minor tweaking of the various articles left to sign, but we have reached the point at the bargaining table where we have done most of what can be accomplished there. Now we need to show our Board of Trustees and our senior management that we are serious about Industry Standards. It’s up to us all to standup, and if we don’t, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Can we do it? You bet we Can.