Providence management has put additional take-aways on the table, directly attacking the wages and standards of Local 121RN employees at Tarzana. Our Union has a history of raising standards for healthcare workers and patients. Maintaining these standards at Providence Tarzana will be a fight.
Providence proposed freezing wages for the two years of their proposal. This means no across-the-board increase and no step increases once the new wage scales are implemented. The hospital will implement the wage freeze by lowering wage scales by almost 6 percent over the life of the contract. They said during negotiations that no current employee will receive a wage reduction as a result, but so far they haven’t put that into writing.
Take-Aways At-A-Glance
- No across-the-board wage increases
- No step raises
- Call-Back Rate – Reduced call-back rates in departments where call is required, such as surgery.
- Charge Differential – The Hospital proposal reduces Charge Differential from 10 percent of one’s hourly rate to $3.50 per hour for relief charge and for any new Charge RN.
- No extra pay for 5th to 8th weekend shifts.
- Health Benefits – Employees will pick up the cost of premium increases.
- The Hospital’s proposal states that bargaining unit employees will be entitled to participate in the same retirement plans that Providence provides for its non-bargaining unit employees. However, the employer did not agree to extend the Providence 401(a) plan to Tarzana employees. This plan is available to Tarzana managers and our colleagues at Providence St. Joseph. Through this plan, Providence contributes up to 6 percent of an employee’s annual pay to a retirement account.
- Education – As tuition costs are rising everywhere, the hospital has proposed that employees pick up more of the costs. Currently the hospital pays $4,000 for tuition reimbursement, but they propose paying just $2,000.
- Subcontracting our jobs.
- Opening up Clinical Ladder to management input and removing incentive for participation in this professional development program.
Professional Employees
Providence has been hiring professional employees at a rate the employer chooses. That doesn’t change in the employer’s current proposal.
RN Wages
During our last contract, our Union won a wage scale for RNs. The wage scale removed raises based on favoritism, corrected wage disparities between equally experienced RNs, and created a scale that paid RNs based on their certifications and experience. Our goal was to raise standards and bring everyone to scale. With Providence’s proposal, more than 80 percent of workers will end up with wages “above scale” due to the freeze.
But what matters here is, even though management has verbally said no one will receive a reduction in pay, if you are expecting a wage increase or step increase after July, DON’T COUNT ON IT.