Contract Extension Ratified

Our contract extension is now official. 1,101 SHARE members voted yes, 55 SHARE members voted no. That's a 95% yes vote, for those of you who like to keep track. Thanks to all those who turned out to vote, whichever way you voted -- it's important. And a thanks again to our negotiating team, who worked hard to get this Agreement.

The raise will probably show up in the March 22 paycheck, but we'll let you know as soon as we have that officially confirmed by HR and Payroll.

Contract Extension Vote this Tuesday, March 6

LOCATION                TIME                                      ROOM

ACC                            7a -12p                     4^th Flr Conf Rm

Barre                           12p -1p                    Conf Rm 

67 Belmont                12p -12:30p

Biotech III                   11:45a - 2p               Seminar Rm 227

CBO                            8a -10a                      File Rm

Farmhouse                12:30p -1:30p           Basement Conf Rm

Hahnemann               12p - 1:30p               2nd Flr Conf Rm

Home Health             8:30a -10a & 3p - 4p   Break Rm

Lincoln St

     Emp Health          10a - 10:30a

Memorial                    6:30a - 4p                  Mem 1 Conf Rm

Morgan                       11a -11:30a

PTC                             3p - 4p

Shrewsbury

     Family Med           8a - 8:30a                   Break Rm

Shrewsbury

        Radiology           7a - 7:30a                   Break Rm

Sleep Center              2p - 2:30p                   Break Rm

Tri-River                     12p -1:30p                  Community Rm

University                   6:30a - 4p   Cafeteria (back right corner)

WBC                           12p - 2:30p              Elm Conf Rm

Voting is limited to SHARE members.

Please call the office if you would like a membership card.

Layoff Update

It's been a tough week. The layoffs are now over. Thirty-two SHARE members--including secretaries, PCA's, LPN's, and others--have been told that their hours would be reduced, or that their jobs were being eliminated.

SHARE reps are working with each of these layoffees to help them find resources, support, and new jobs. We've already received some interest in voluntary layoffs, and we're optimistic that these swaps will lead to some good outcomes. If you would like to know more about voluntary layoff, or would like to be considered for a swap, please call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020.

Also, if you are interested, you can click the following link to more information about the layoff process.

There will be another SHARE Information meeting on Monday, from 11:30-1:30 on the University Campus in room S1-123. And don't forget that the Contract Extension vote is this coming Tuesday, March 6th.

Do You Want to Volunteer for Layoff?

As you have probably heard, UMass Memorial recently gave notice to some employees--including some SHARE members--that they will be laid off, or have their hours cut.

Whenever there is a layoff, SHARE Reps work to help each member find another job, either in an open position or by "swapping" with someone who volunteers to be laid off. If we can find the right match for a swap, the person who was going to be laid off takes the volunteer's job. The volunteer gets the layoff benefits:

• severance (one week per full year that you've worked here, minimum 2, maximum 8)
• earned/vacation time paid out weekly (and keep health insurance until all time is used up)
• unemployment
• access to the SHARE training funds

If you would like to know more about what volunteering might mean for you, please call the SHARE office: 508-929-4020.

Information Meetings

Feb 22   Home Health 11:30-1 & 5-6 Break Room

 Feb 22   Tri-River 12-1:30 Community Room

Feb 27   Hahnemann 12-1:30 2nd floor Conference Room

Feb 28   Shrewsbury Radiology 11-1 Break Room

March 1   ACC 11-12:30 4th floor Conf Rm (near elevator)

March 2   Farmhouse 12:30-1:30 Basement Conference Room

March 5   University 11:30-1:30 S1-123

About the Contract Extension . . .

Hi all. A mailing has been sent out to each SHARE member at their home regarding the Contract Extension proposal. Everyone should receive that some time this week. The mailing includes a description of the raises and the pension committee. You will be able to calculate your own raises thanks to enclosed directions. The mailing also includes a quick update regarding what we know about layoffs (so far, that's nothing that isn't also in the newspaper.) There is a list of voting times and locations for the Contract vote, which will take place on Tuesday, March 6th. And there's a list of Information Meeting times and dates. Information meetings have already begun. Please help us get word out in particular to those locations whose lunchtime info meetings are happening this week:

Wed Feb 15 Sleep Center 12:30-1:30

Thurs Feb 16 Barre 12-1

Thurs Feb 16 Shrewsbury Medicine 11-1 (Break Room)

Fri Feb 17 Memorial 11:30-1:30 (Memorial 1 Conference Room)

If you have questions or comments about the Contract Extension, or would like help calculating your own raise, please come to one of the scheduled Information Meetings, or give us a call in the SHARE office (508-929-4020).

Thanks everyone! And happy Valentine's Day!

Contract Negotiations--Tentative Agreement!

We are happy to announce that we have a tentative agreement with UMass Memorial. The agreement would extend our current contract until September 30, 2012, with:

1. A Raise for all SHARE members for this year
2. The creation of a labor-management Pension Committee
3. No other changes in the contract

Details coming in the mail:

We will be sending every SHARE member a letter with the details of the agreement, a list of information meetings, and locations and times to vote on the proposed contract extension. If a majority of the SHARE members voting vote “Yes”, then the agreement goes into effect.

The Raise:

The letter you get will explain the raise in detail, show the new ranges, and allow you to figure out exactly what you would get.  There are two parts to the raise:  an across-the-board base increase that moves everyone in SHARE up along with their grade, plus a step increase/bonus for everyone hired before 10/1/2011. The step increase gives SHARE members credit for another year of service, and moves them closer to their grade max. The bonus is for any part of the step increase that would be over max. The bonus would be based on the number of hours paid in 2011, including overtime.

In order to get a big enough raise, we would agree to have it go into effect January 1 instead of October 1. In effect, we would trade part of the retro we are owed for a bigger base increase.

The Pension Committee:

One of UMass Memorial’s big priorities is to reduce the cost of benefits. As part of this effort, the management negotiating team made a proposal about making changes to the pension. The SHARE negotiating team could not negotiate about anything that important without a great deal of research and discussion. And we didn't want SHARE members to have to wait that long for a raise. So we made an agreement that would set up a "Joint Pension Reform Committee" to look at the pension, its cost and future sustainability, management’s proposed changes and what effect they would have, and other options.

The committee’s job would be to make a recommendation to the SHARE and management negotiating teams in time for them to negotiate about the pension in our next contract. No changes to the pension would be made in this current extension. Any changes to the pension that might be made in the future would not affect any pension benefit you have already earned.

Questions:

We hope to answer everyone’s questions soon in the letter we send to home, in information meetings, and in one-to-one conversations. Please be patient as we get this information out. We will be in touch soon.

Thank you,

The SHARE Negotiating Team:

Sandy Alafberg

Rob Beatty

Bill Brennan

Sheldon Brown

Rita Caputo

Deb Clark

Kirk Davis

Deb Engvall

Kathy Girouard

Carol Hehir

Jana Hollingsworth

Taylor Morgan

Deb Pawlina

Sharon Pichierri

Joan Powlics

Elisabeth Szanto

Alana Wesson