In a day-long voting session, workers filed through the education building at Henry Mayo Hospital on January 29 to vote on their new collective bargaining agreement. UE Local 1004, which represents the hospital’s support staff, had reached a tentative agreement with management on January 16. The tentative agreement included both improvements to contract language and wage improvements for all job grades.
Recent changes to California minimum wages laws for hospital workers impacted the bargaining as the employer was strained to give raises for each year of the contract for the lower-wage jobs. “We have dealt with the state law changes for two years, as the bottom keeps getting pushed up”, said Ashley Clemons, a bargaining committee member and Ward Clerk/Monitor Tech at the Hospital. “We wanted to make sure the hospital took care of the middle and the top and those workers who have been at the hospital for many years”, she added.
Contract language changes include small items such as ensuring the union is identified when using rooms at the Hospital for union purposes and ensuring the employee information is shared electronically to allowing bargaining committee members to accrue PTO for lost time in bargaining
The Local bargaining committee had fought to improve conditions for the Patient Care Attendants (PCAs) who provide the front line care to patients. PCAs’ workloads sometimes become so heavy that it jeopardizes the safety of both patients and workers. Although management would not agree to staffing ratios, they did offer provisions that provide PCAs a path to seek additional help when their work load becomes too great.
“Hopefully this [new proposed workload provision] works for us PCA’s” said Lilana Ayala, a PCA and bargaining committee member. “We can make improvements next contract if this doesn’t work.”
The union sought and the hospital agreed to inform the union of changes to its policies, which is what they had agreed to with the nurses’ union. “We work side by side with nurses in my department,” said Michell Burnett. “We think we should be treated as equals as we all are there for patient safety.”
The four-year agreement has wage improvements totaling between 14 and 18 percent, as workers can earn more based on high performance evaluations done each year. Individuals at the low end of the scale will be raised to $23 per hour by July of 2026 and $25 per hour by 2028.
Other improvements include small increases for uniform allowances as well as increases in the longevity differential paid based on years of service.
The UE Local 1004 bargaining committee was composed of Ashley Clemons, Michell Burnett, Frankie Ferrer, Lilliana Ayala, Rahim Baldwin and Irma Ibarra. They were assisted by UE staff Stacy Suarez and J Burger.