Unit 17 Bargaining Update for Monday, August 19th, 2019
Unit 17 Bargaining Team Wins Important Improvements for Members

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Local 1000’s Unit 17 Registered Nurses (RNs) returned to the bargaining table on Sunday, August 19 and signed a number of tentative agreements (TA) that strengthened and protected contract language around issues important to California state nurses.

First and foremost, the Unit 17 bargaining team won stronger language in the Professional Practice Group (PPG) contract provision that now requires all departments with RNs to participate in the PPG. This forum gives nurses an opportunity to discuss standards around nursing practices, trends, education and new skills related to the RN profession and to make recommendations concerning how to incorporate new or improved developments into their practice. The team also negotiated a provision that mandates the state respond to PPG recommendations within a set timeframe. 

A third TA the team won increases the number of positions that nurses can bid for in the Department of State Hospitals and the Department of Developmental Services. This was in response to the desire among nurses in those departments to have more flexibility in choosing where they work.

Unit 17’s bargaining team also TA’ed:

  • Improved language on Performance Appraisals that now allows nurses to be present during the Individual Appraisal Review process.
  • Defended language that preserves current Letter of Instruction (LOI) protections related to the expiration date of LOI’s and the right of rebuttal.

Unit 17 Chair Kim Cowart expressed satisfaction with the bargaining team’s efforts to protect hard earned rights that are important to Unit 17 members. “We were really able to win and protect quite a bit in the last couple of months. Now we have an opportunity to address other issues that our members care about. We have several priorities that are still outstanding and we’re going to continue to fight to make sure that the issues that are most important to our members are addressed by the state.”

While the work of our Unit 17 team has been impressive, some proposals remain to be worked out.

Negotiations continue at the master table all this week.