Health care workers win 4/10 flexibility at CDCR records center

Article

Victory shows how JLMCs can be effective

California Corrections Health Care Services (CCHCS) workers at the Health Records Center in South Sacramento have won new schedule flexibility in their work week. Now these employees are able to choose four, 10-hour days (4/10s) as a work week rather than the standard eight hours, five days a week. 

After months of organizing their coworkers and forming a Joint Labor Management Committee (JLMC),  Local 1000 members convinced management to sign off on the new 4/10 schedule option in September. Those who applied to work 4/10 weeks began their new schedules on Oct. 1. 

“This demonstrates how we can achieve real gains working through the JLMCs that Local 1000 bargained for in our contract. Today, health care records employees working in Sacramento can adjust their work week to accommodate family responsibilities and other personal commitments. Without the JLMC structure, this win might not have happened at all,” said Margarita Maldonado, Local 1000 vice president for bargaining.

Organizing members made the difference

Local 1000’s contract provides state workers with the ability to create labor / management committees at their worksites to address issues around workload, productivity, workplace efficiency and quality of service. Health records workers at CCHCS had expressed the desire for 4/10 flexibility for years but had always been told by management it was unworkable. Once these CCHCS workers got organized and presented clear proposals with the backing of rank-and-file workers, managers understood how 4/10 flexibility could work without reducing productivity.

Rebecca Celaya, a Unit 4 health records technician II specialist for CCHCS and Local 1000 steward explained, “We had each of our units in the records office write up proposals for 4/10 work weeks and got employees to signoff on the plans. We were able to demonstrate to management that 4/10 schedules were workable. That’s how we won this victory.”