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UNION NEWS
Flexible Work Schedules at SEC
Some good news at the SEC is that the NTEU representing workers there negotiated
flexible work options including:
- Compressed Workweek: An employee fulfills the basic work requirement of eighty (80) hours in a 2 week period over a span of nine (9) workdays - five (5) days one week, four (4) days the other week while respecting the core hours. Starting and ending times may be different on different days, however, a fixed schedule must be established.
- Credit Hours: Employees may choose to work a flexible work schedule with credit hours. Employees on this schedule may work up to 2 credit hours on a workday, and up to 8 hours on a non-workday, and may carry over up to 24 credit hours from pay period to pay period.
- Telework: An employee may work at home up to 2 days per week on a regular schedule, or five consecutive days on a project. The decision to grant or deny an employee’s request for a recurring or ad hoc telework arrangement is based on the nature and content of the employee’s job and whether the arrangement interferes with the Agency’s ability to meet its mission, along with staffing and workload requirements. (National Treasury Employees Union and the Security and Exchange Commission)
Flight Attendants Get Leave With Benefits
Association of Professional Flight Attendants negotiated 20 years ago for
a voluntary leave, “overage leave of absence”, in the event
of a long-term reduction in the workforce. During this voluntary leave,
the employee continues to receive all medical benefits (still responsible
for his/her own portion), seniority accrual, sick leave and vacation leave.
Basically, the only thing they lose is a paycheck. Currently, there are
2,200 flight attendants on overage leave of absence. All employees who are
on any type of leave retain recall rights for 5 years.
If not enough employees take this leave under the contract, then employees
are offered job sharing that allows 2 people to split a salary and split
one job, anyway they see fit. Both employees receive full benefits and seniority
accrual during this time. However, because of the extensive administrative
work involved, this job sharing is for a period of 90 days only. (APFA
and American Airlines)
Education, Legal and Housing Benefits
United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 1776 negotiated a Trust Fund
with multiple grocery store employers. Some of the benefits of the Trust
Fund include an education benefit of $1000 per year for members and, for
those with ten or more years of service, $300 for dependents; 100% coverage
for legal services including marital and domestic relations, real estate,
wills, adoption, criminal and civil cases, deeds, debt collection, settlement
negotiations and traffic offenses; A new housing fund was negotiated as
well. The employers will contribute $1 a month for full time employees and
$.50 a month for part time employees. (The Child Care benefit of this
Fund was featured in our Winter 2002 issue). (UFCW Local 1776 and Participating
Employers)
LEGISLATION
More Child Care Subsidies for Working Parents – New York City
The New York Union Child Care Coalition, made up of 20 unions fought for
and won funding from New York State for two pilot projects in the Bronx
and Manhattan totaling $15 million. The goal of the pilots is to make childcare
subsidies accessible to more working families by increasing income eligibility.
Presently eligibility for subsidies is capped at 200% of poverty level.
The pilot programs allow eligibility up to 275% (about $50,000- for a family
of 4).
While most of the money is for subsidies, the pilots will also address barriers
to working parents accessing subsidies including the requirement that they
appear in person at the social service agency, the lack of evening or weekend
hours, lengthy applications and long waiting lists. Under the pilot, working
parents will be able to learn about the subsidy program at Childcare Fairs
held on weekends or at their union or workplace. A simple one-page application
form is being developed and parents will be allowed to mail or fax applications.
A resource office to assist parents if they need help with the application
will be open evenings and weekends. Outreach for the program will be done
through unions, community based organizations and employers.
Nurses Demand Limits on Mandatory Overtime
“8 hours for work; 8 hours for sleep; and 8 hours for what we will!”
-Popular Labor Slogan.
The national nurses’ fight to ban mandatory overtime is the latest
front in the on-going battle to preserve the 8-hour day. Balancing work
with family life becomes virtually impossible when employers have the right
to mandate overtime. And in spite of the country’s economic downturn,
the use of mandatory overtime prevails in the hospital industry. According
to Diane Sosne, RN and co-chair of the SEIU Nurse Alliance, “Mandatory
overtime has led many nurses to leave hospital work . . .family pressures
are a factor in this as many nurses who care for children or aging parents
at home are unexpectedly required to work additional hours beyond their
shift.”
Registered nurses have experienced the sharpest rise in overtime hours in
the last few years. In hospitals, mandatory overtime is increasingly used
as a staffing tool. “There is a serious nursing shortage right now,”
said Willie Pelote, Political and Legislative Director for AFSCME/UNAC which
represents 17,000 nurses in Southern California. “And hospitals are
using mandatory overtime to fill the gaps.” Sonia Mosley, RN and Vice
President of UNAC, has been an RN for forty years and said that when she
started nursing too much overtime was not a problem. “This is a big
issue for nurses right now because of the nursing shortage,” she said.
“The hospital uses it to staff up in a lot of cases. For some managers
it is just easier and less expensive than paying benefits for another full
time nurse.”
The demand for excessive overtime in nursing impairs both the nurses’
ability to spend quality time with their families and give their patients
quality care. This can have dangerous consequences. “It is hard on
families – people are not able to plan their lives. We nurses feel
obligated to stay because of the patients. But then we work back to back
shifts on no sleep and feel like we are not giving adequate care or could
even make costly mistakes,” said Sonia Mosley.
The negative impact mandatory overtime has on patient care has been a rallying
cry for nurses around the country. In May 2002 during National Nurses Week,
hundreds of nurses from around the U.S. paid a visit to the Capitol to support
Federal legislation banning mandatory overtime. They set off alarm clocks
in unison to ‘wake Congress up’ to the fact that overworking
nurses is dangerous to patients’ health. The effects of sleep deprivation
on work performance have been well documented. In fact, 1997 research by
the University of Australia showed that work performance is more likely
impaired by moderate fatigue than by alcohol and that there are considerable
safety for workers staying awake for long periods of time.
Unions representing RNs point to patient safety as an argument for banning
mandatory overtime for nurses at the national level. Angela Lemire, spokesperson
for the SEIU Nurses Alliance points out that federal regulations place limits
on the amount of time that can be worked in aviation and trucking. “Certainly,
nursing has as much of an impact on public health and safety as these professions,”
she said.
Mary Magee, RN in Labor and Delivery at San Francisco General Hospital,
agrees that excessive overtime is a public safety issue. She also describes
the negative impact it has on the nurses themselves; “Most of the
time mandatory overtime is implemented when there are [more patients with
serious conditions] so it usually comes on the worst work day of your life,”
she said. “Maybe you skipped lunch or you ate standing up and you
were so busy you forgot to pee. Then they ask you to stay longer. It is
so demoralizing to the staff.” She went on to say it is worse for
nurses with small children. “It affects the people who have little
ones at home the most. They just had a hellacious day and now they are scrambling
on the phone to see if their caregiver or partner can continue to cover
for them. The most dramatic thing was seeing a breastfeeding mom get assigned
mandatory overtime,” she said. “In labor and delivery we promote
bonding and families and this is how we treat our staff.”
Mary Magee and the RNs in Labor and Delivery worked with their union, SEIU
Local 790 to change their situation. They documented their overtime and
contacted the Department of Public Health. When the CEO saw what they had
documented, he agreed to assign more staff to their department.
The use of mandatory overtime is becoming a collective bargaining issue
in steel, communications, auto, utilities and nursing. Unions representing
RNs are leading the national fight to ban mandatory overtime at the bargaining
table and legislatively. Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon
and Washington have already passed legislation limiting hospitals’
ability to mandate overtime. And union RNs are linking up to build support
for a federal bill – the Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act that would
limit the use of mandatory overtime to extreme emergencies. The California
Nurses Association has, in numerous cases, bargained for and won language
that bans mandatory overtime “except in the event of an emergency
declared by the city, county, state/and or federal government”. Glenda
Canfield, RN and Policy Director for SEIU Nurses Association says, “It
is important to keep working on the legislation, to keep fighting. But for
now, your best defense is your union contract.”
The Little Engine That Hasn’t, The Poor Performance of Employer Tax Credits for Child Care, National Women’s Law Center. This report examines the range of employer tax credits, presents new findings about low utilization and explores explanations for their lack of success. The report also examines alternative models for encouraging private investment in child care. It finds that these credits often divert money away from proven strategies such as direct subsidies to parents. To order, call 202-588-5180, info@nwlc.org or download at http://www.nwlc.org
New Resources From Labor Project:
Child Care Choices for Working Families, Examining Child Care Choices of
Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union Local 2 Members Working in
San Francisco’s Hospitality Industry, Labor Project for Working
Families and California Child Care Resource and Referral Network. Parents
surveyed participate in a labor negotiated benefit that provides subsidies
to offset child and elder care costs. Despite this assistance, hotel workers
still face many challenges including language barriers, care on weekends
and evenings and little government support. The report provides a view of
what low income working parents are struggling with and offers recommendations
and policy implications.
http://www.working-families.org/organize/pdf/childcare_choices.pdf
An advocate’s guide to the successful California campaign for paid
family leave, written by the Labor Project. Available in late January from
the Labor Project for Working Families,(510)643-7088, lpwf@berkeley.edu,
(first copy free, each additional copy $5.00) or download from our website
at http://www.working-families.org/organize/pdf/paidleavewon.pdf
Labor Family News is published quarterly by:
Labor Project for Working Families
2521 Channing Way #5555
Berkeley, CA 94720
Ph: 510-643-7088
Fax: 510-642-6432
lpwf@berkeley.edu
www.working-families.org
Netsy Firestein
Editor
Jenya Cassidy
Managing Editor
Reprints Permitted With Acknowledgement. Call
us for an email version.
