Our Unit 20 bargaining team—representing Medical and Social Service Specialists—returned to negotiations with the state today to address a number of deeply-felt issues our members shared during bargaining Town Halls and on thousands of surveys.
Our Unit 20 bargaining team presented proposals to the state that would:
- Strengthen the language governing continuing education to ensure that the Dental Assistants and Dental Hygienists we represent are able to independently choose when, where and what type of training they elect to satisfy the continuing education requirement.
- Enhance the safety of Unit 20 employees working in 24-hour facilities by mandating safety training be completed within 30 days of hire instead of two to five months.
- Change the differential pay for split shifts from a flat $70 to 15% of the employee’s pay per hour. This differential, unchanged since the 1970s, is not reflective of the impact on employees working a split shift.
- Expand the opportunity for time-off exchanges (also known as “swaps”) to include probationary and part-time employees. This provides a larger pool of potential participants and a real operational benefit for employees as well as management.
In addition, our Unit 20 team presented 36 “roll over” proposals that would preserve existing contract language, including an important win from 2016 bargaining that regulates workplace temperatures, and another that added Residential Care Leaders at CalVet to the Post and Bid process.
“Our members are making their demands for better working conditions,” said Luisa Leuma, Unit 20 Bargaining Chair. “And while we’re at the table, those members are standing behind us in the workplace to make those demands heard.”
The Unit 20 bargaining team returns to the table next week on July 25.