Units 17 & 20 Joint Bargaining Update for Friday, August 9th, 2019
State Disrespects Nurses Around Mandatory Overtime and Other Issues

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On Friday, August 9th, Unit 17 and Unit 20 met with the state together as part of a joint table to discuss issues of mandatory overtime (MOT) and vacation scheduling at the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) California Correctional Health Care Services facilities.

“I am very disappointed at the lack of movement by the state,” said Luisa Leuma, Chair of Bargaining Unit 20.  “It was a slap in the face that the state didn’t make any movement on these issues.”    

Local 1000 has been working to “Stop MOT” for the last 12 years.  In our 2016 contract, the union decreased the number of mandatory overtime shifts by one per month, and created a task force to “eliminate/decrease mandatory overtime”. However, during the ensuing two years of task force meetings, the state hasn’t proposed any movement on the measure. Instead, the state proposed to continue talking about the issue in the task forces, without any kind of timeline to decrease MOT.

“We need a contract that will stop this dangerous scheduling practice,” added Leuma. “Actions speak louder than words.”

The second issue at the joint table was implementing a standard vacation scheduling process for RNs, LVNs, and MAs working at CDCR. In our 2016 contract, we created task forces to work with management to implement a standardized process. But once again, rather than accepting the recommendations of the committee, the state proposed to simply keep talking about the issue. 

Our bargaining team made a counterproposal to management to install a deadline by which the new process should be implemented. However, the state refused to agree to any real time limit.  

“The state it not respecting our nurses, and it’s time for us to stand up for our profession,” said Kim Cowart, unit 17 bargaining chair. 

The next joint Unit 17 & 20 bargaining around these issues will be scheduled soon. We look forward to seeing our fellow members at the Capitol Contract Rally on August 13. Call 866.471.7348 (SEIU) to RSVP.