July 11 - Bargaining Update

UNIONS PRESENT ECONOMIC PROPOSALS

On Thursday, July 7, 2022, 1199SEIU and CWA presented Kaleida Health with a comprehensive proposal on the economic issues of the contract. Our Union bargaining committee has spent several weeks preparing this package of proposals. We took into consideration the priorities you outlined in your bargaining survey, the increase in the cost of living, recently negotiated collective bargaining agreements, including what the unions obtained at ECMC (NYSNA & CSEA), Catholic Health, Roswell and others. In fact, our initial proposals factored in similar concepts utilized in those agreements. The dynamics of the current market wage conditions have also been taken into consideration.

Our Economic Package of Proposals includes the following items:

Wages/Differentials: The Unions made proposals to increase our base wage scales, cost of living increases, and increases in all of the differentials. We also proposed to upgrade approximately 50 job titles and proposed a new 25 Year longevity pay step.

The percentages proposed for each year of the contract will restore Kaleida Health as the highest paid and benefitted contract in Western New York.

Finally, we proposed the elimination of Appendix G which is the Long-Term Care wage scale. We are proposing that all job titles in Appendix G be placed in one of the Appendices A through F.

Upgrade presentations by staff members are taking place July 12 and July 13, 2022.

Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits: A proposal was made to preserve the excellent medical benefits that we have. We have been very clear with Kaleida that we are not going to give up the benefits that we had through Family Pharmaceutical. We know the out-of-pocket expenses Kaleida changed has inflicted hardship upon our members.

Dental Benefits: Slight improvements were proposed for those members taking the Dental benefits for those with family coverage. This was proposed as an equalization between single and family contributions by the employer. We cleaned up some language related to the 1199SEIU Plan.

Hospital Discounts: The Unions are proposing to stay at present contract.

Retirement Plan: A significant number of our members are covered by the Cash Balance formula of the Kaleida Health Pension Growth Plan. We have made a significant proposal to improve this formula including increasing the interest credit to a minimum of 6%, improving the pay credits by 1.5%, and increasing the Kaleida contribution for those saving through the 401(k) to 100% of 6%. The Unions made a comparable proposal for improvements to the 1199SEIU Retirement Plan.

Retention Incentive Program: We have heard your concerns loud and clear regarding a Retention incentive for all job titles. We made a proposal for a one-time retention incentive, spread over 4 payments.

Staffing Incentive Plan: It is clear that the current staffing bonus has not been implemented in a fair or consistent way across the system. The Unions proposed a complete revision to this plan that would provide the bonus automatically for all hours worked above an employee’s regular hours. This takes the guessing out of who is eligible or and intends to provide relief for staffing.

Duration: The Unions are proposing to remain consistent with a three-year contract.

Now, the real negotiations on the economic issues begins.

In terms of our next steps, the Unions await a response from Kaleida Health.  We are unclear how long it will take for Kaleida to respond to our economic proposals as negotiations continue. We will continue to work to bring negotiations to a close and bring back the contract we deserve for your review and vote!