Unit 17: Registered Nurses

Overview

Unit 17
Registered Nurses

Unit 17 includes registered nurses who work in California prisons, veteran’s homes, developmental centers, mental health hospitals, departments of healthcare services and public health, special schools and other departments that serve Californians.

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CDPH Telework Meet and Confer
Update from April 15, 2022

On Friday, April 15, 2022, our Union met with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) regarding the new Telework policy. CDPH stated they support telework department-wide and see telework as a retention and morale booster for CDPH. We had a productive meeting where we learned CDPH is working to address properly resourcing teleworking equipment and functions to ensure the best teleworking environment.

We learned the following: 

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CalVet Vacation Scheduling Policy

Our Union requested to meet and discuss with the Department of Veteran Affairs (CalVet) to establish written home-wide vacation scheduling procedures for Bargaining Unit 17 and Bargaining Unit 20, per the MOU sections 8.23.20 and 8.26.17. Leadership from each Bargaining Unit, along with Job Stewards from a handful of CalVet Homes, met over several months with CalVet management to establish an annual vacation bidding policy to be implemented at all eight Homes. 

The vacation scheduling policy sets the parameters for annual vacation bidding by classification.

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Supervisor Duties Dumped on HFENs

Health Facilities Evaluator Nurses (HFENs) have been working non-stop to ensure that health facilities follow State and Federal laws to protect the public.  This has been an especially hard task given that the pandemic has made health facilities an area of great concern.  

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Department of State Hospitals (DSH)
Meet & Confer update

On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, SEIU Local 1000 met with the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to meet and discuss over the status and future of Health and Safety Committees at all five facilities, per Section 10.2 of the MOU. At this meeting, member leaders represented all the DSH facilities, except for Atascadero. Positive steps were taken and will continue in order to ensure success for Health and Safety Committees at each facility to appropriately address concerns collaboratively with management and all staff unions.

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Health Facilities Evaluator Nurses
Update from May 17, 2021

Thank you for all your emails and feedback. Please continue sending your questions, comments, and feedback to unit17@seiu1000.org  

We read each email and try to respond accordingly in our updates.

On May 14, 2021, we met with John Tong (Labor Relations Specialist, CDPH) and Susan Espinoza (Deputy Director of Human Resources, CDPH) to discuss outstanding Health Facility Evaluator Nurse issues.

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Department of State Hospitals (DSH)
Meet & Confer update

On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, SEIU Local 1000 met with the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) to meet and confer over DSH’s application for a permanent exemption to the California Standards for Workplace Violence Prevention in Healthcare, which mandates guidelines for reporting to the Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) regarding workplace violence incidences.

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CDCR CCHCS Entrance Screening Process
Update

On February 4, 2021, our Union met with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) and California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) to meet and confer over the implementation of the institutional entrance screening policy at each institution throughout the state.

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CCHCS Employee Health Teams (EHTs)
On January 29, 2021

Our Union met with California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) to continue discussing the formation and implementation of an Employee Health Team (EHT) at each institution throughout the state.

Some of the major details from the Meet-and-Confer include:

CCHCS was asked to explain the overall, general status of the Employee Health program and any other relevant information, and they responded with the following updates:

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(CCHCS) Employee Health Team (EHT)
Update from October 13, 2020

On October 13, 2020, our Union met with California Correctional Health Care Services (CCHCS) to continue discussing the formation and implementation of an Employee Health Team (EHT) at each institution throughout the state.

Some of the major details from the meet and confer include:

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Statewide CDCR CCHCS Health & Safety Grievance
SEIU Local 1000 filed a health and safety grievance on behalf of all members in CDCR/CCHCS due to the department’s violation of our contract.

On July 28, 2020 SEIU Local 1000 filed a health and safety grievance on behalf of all members in CDCR/CCHCS due to the department’s violation of our contract.

CDCR CCHCS violated our contract by requiring employees to work where an immediate and recognizable threat exists to their health and safety. The department also continues to expose our members to an unsafe work environment, resulting in COVID-19 outbreaks, by continuing to allow inmate movement and not fully enforcing all health and safety guidelines.