SHARE & UMass Memorial Reach Tentative Agreement on Contract!

SHARE’s negotiating team is very happy to announce that we have reached a Tentative Agreement (TA) with UMass Memorial for a new four-year contract. A summary of the agreement — including the raise amount for each year — is described below.

Thank you for sticking together! The negotiating team could not have gotten this agreement without SHARE members staying engaged.

This TA becomes finalized if SHARE members vote to ratify it. Only SHARE members can vote. To join SHARE, click here.

SHARE-UMass Memorial Medical Center 

Tentative Contract Agreement  

October 1, 2022—September 30, 2026   

Our SHARE Negotiating Team reached a tentative agreement with UMass Memorial Medical Center and Medical Group. The next step is for SHARE members to understand what’s in the agreement, and to decide what they think about it. The tentative contract takes effect if a majority of voting SHARE members vote “Yes” on November 14-17th.  

Raises 

6% or $1.25 /hour, whichever is greater for each SHARE member, for Year 1 (retroactive to 10/30/22, not 10/1/22 -- see below) 

5% or $1.25 /hour, whichever is greater for each SHARE member, for Year 2 (effective 10/1/23) 

4.5% or $1.00 /hour, whichever is greater for each SHARE member, for Year 3 (effective 9/29/24) 

4% or $1.00 /hour, whichever is greater for each SHARE member, Year 4 (effective 9/28/25) 

SHARE members must be on the payroll in a job in the SHARE Medical Center unit (which includes some Medical Group and UMMH employees) on the date of ratification (November 17, 2022) to get the raise.   

We Traded Retro for a Better Raise 

Our contract expired on September 30th, so usually our raises come on October 1st each year. When negotiations go past the October 1st date, there may be a retroactive amount, to pay SHARE members as if the raise had gone into effect on time. This year, we went a month over the contract expiration date. (Sometimes it has taken much longer.) 

The SHARE Negotiating Team traded the month of October’s retro to get a bigger raise sooner in the first year. The full 6% starts on October 30th – a bigger raise than we could have gotten on October 1st. Since we were only talking about a month’s retro, and because SHARE members are usually frustrated by the high rate of taxes on a retro check, the negotiating team used the opportunity to invest more in base pay. SHARE members get more money in their pocket for the year this way. 

Since the raise won’t be delivered until after the contract is ratified, there will be a few weeks of retro back to October 30th. 

Raises to Base Pay for SHARE Members Who Are Close to Max Cap of their Grade 

The max caps for all grades will go up each year, so that every SHARE member gets a raise to their base pay. They will get the full amount, but some of it will be as a cash bonus. 

If the raise would increase your rate higher than the max cap of your grade, then your new rate is the max cap rate. Any amount greater than max cap is paid as a bonus. The bonus rate is the amount of your raise over max cap, multiplied for every hour you worked in the prior fiscal year, including overtime. 

The max caps will increase as follows: 

• Year 1: Max caps go up by 4.2% for all grades. A SHARE member whose pay is already at max cap will get a raise to base pay of 4.2% plus a bonus of 1.8%. 

• Year 2: Max caps go up 3.2%. A SHARE member whose pay is already at max cap will get a raise to base pay of 3.2% plus a bonus of 1.8%. 

• Year 3: Max caps go up 2.7%. A SHARE member whose pay is already at max cap will get a raise to base pay of 2.7% plus a bonus of 1.8%. 

• Year 4: Max caps go up 2.2%. A SHARE member whose pay is already at max cap will get a raise to base pay of 2.2% plus a bonus of 1.8%. 

If it were up to SHARE, everyone would always get the full raise to base. However, management thinks that every job should have a max. Over the years, we have arrived at a compromise.

Here’s how it works: Every SHARE grade has platforms, and we negotiate so that every raise moves SHARE members up one platform toward the grade max cap to give credit for their additional year of experience. (Before the union, lots of people never got to the max in their grade.) The amount of the raise that moves SHARE members up a platform toward the grade max is about 1.8% (amounts vary slightly by grade). The amount of the raise that could be considered a “step” to move SHARE members up to max cap will be delivered as a bonus to those SHARE members who are already at max cap. The bonuses are counted toward your pension.

On-Call Pay Differential 

The on-call pay differential increases from $3.00/hour to $4.00 on October 30, 2022, and from $4.00/hour to $5.00/hour in year 2. 

Pay Rates for Job Titles that Are Too Low 

Both SHARE and UMass Memorial agree that some job titles may get paid less than nearby employers for the same job even after these raises. SHARE and the hospital have agreed that these negotiations won’t resolve all questions about job classification and compensation. SHARE proposed and agreed to continue to meet to discuss “problems of retention, recruitment, and market competitiveness and decide appropriate next steps.” That’s not a guarantee that we will be able to fix the pay rates for every title, but at least we can talk to management about what the problem is and advocate for why it needs to get solved. 

Good News: Stability in Health Insurance and Pension 

The hospital did not propose any cuts to our health insurance benefits or our defined benefit pension or 401K match. For the next 4 years, SHARE members will pay only 15% of the cost of the HMO plan (though the cost of our 15% does go up each year), and the cost of co-pays will not increase. Your defined benefits plan won’t change – that’s the pension that the hospital provides, and you don’t have to pay into at all. 

SHARE proposed and UMass Memorial also agreed that if UMass Memorial redesigns our existing benefits, SHARE will be involved in the discussions about any changes. With SHARE members’ voice in the room, changes are more likely to meet the needs of SHARE members and their families.

Career Training and Advancement 

SHARE put a high priority on increasing SHARE members’ ability to learn and grow in their careers at UMass Memorial in these contract negotiations. The SHARE survey showed that SHARE members want to learn and grow, but face barriers to doing so, like the cost, time and knowing where to find information about career paths. 

Tuition Assistance Increasing 

SHARE and UMass Memorial discussed increasing the tuition reimbursement amounts. SHARE wants the hospital to reimburse up to $5250 per year (the IRS limit) and to reimburse 100% of costs, not just a portion. We also discussed expanding what qualifies for reimbursement to include a SHARE member’s student loan repayment, and certification programs in addition to college credit classes. These discussions went well, but the final agreement must be approved by senior leadership before we can publicize it. We’ll keep you posted. 

Building Career Pathways: The Work Continues 

After this contract is completed, SHARE remains very committed to making career growth easier for SHARE members. UMass Memorial is putting a big emphasis on this work too, and is prioritizing workforce development plans for the whole of UMass Memorial. We all understand that when staff have clear opportunities to move up and learn new things, they will be more inclined to come to work here and to stay working here.  That is good for the staff and for the hospital. SHARE and UMass Memorial have signed an agreement describing how we will work together on these goals going forward. 

The Careers side table learned about training programs from labor-management examples at hospitals around the country. We are excited to work on: 

• Supports and flexibility to make it easier for SHARE members to work and go to school at the same time, even if they are raising kids. 

• Internal career pathways for high-demand positions, potentially including radiology techs, respiratory therapists and RNs. 

• External career pipelines to recruit to fill positions we need. 

• Collaboration with Anchor Mission and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging efforts to make sure opportunities are open to all care givers. 

Expanding Unit Based Teams – 

Having a Say in the Day-to-Day Work  

Unit Based Teams are SHARE’s effort to improve how it feels to come to work. UBTs operate at the department level to involve SHARE members as respected partners in improving how the work gets done. SHARE Organizers and senior managers both support each team, but SHARE and the hospital must agree on how many new teams we launch each year, and on the money to pay UBT Coaches to support the teams. 

The contract outlines a plan for 25 new UBTs each year, with a new coach to support 25 teams each time we expand. In the past we’ve had to adjust our plans to allow staff to focus on the Epic implementation and the COVID surges, but it’s important to have a default plan in place. 

Smaller Changes 

Leaves of Absence: Tidying Up the Options 

Now that we have the Massachusetts Paid Family Medical Leave, which is the law, two leaves of absence that were in the SHARE contract are not needed anymore. They both applied to employees with 6 to 12 months service who were not eligible for the federally mandated FMLA. The Personal Medical Leave was available to new employees hired after 2017; the “Company FMLA” was available to staff hired before 2017. Now PFML is available to employees from day one on their job, so the old leaves are not needed anymore. 

The SHARE Negotiating Team side table on leaves of absence and absenteeism worked hard to understand all the ins and outs of the different leaves, which are incredibly complicated. We wanted to ensure that SHARE Members are not losing anything substantial by eliminating these two leaves of absence. Hopefully, this change will make leaves of absence a little simpler for everyone.  

Bridging of Service for Re-hired SHARE Members 

“Bridging” is the term we use when a SHARE member leaves and then gets re-hired within three years. SHARE negotiated bridging years ago so that someone who comes back doesn’t start over again for earned time accrual rates and seniority. The problem was that bridged re-hires were brought back at their old pay rate, even if the pay grids moved up while they were gone. This made it hard to convince people to come back – and we all know that we need to fill as many positions as possible right now! We agreed to change it so that re-hires can potentially come back at the higher rates, depending on whether they have gained more experience by working in the field while they were gone. 

Unresolved, but Agreements to Keep Talking 

Despite many conversations, there were two issues we weren’t able to reach agreement on during negotiations but that the SHARE and UMass Memorial agree to keep talking about.  

Promotion Increase 

We agree to meet and discuss how we handle promotional increases and market adjustments for group and individual adjustments. SHARE is trying to change how the current contract language works. 

Work from Home (“Remote Work”) 

While the hospital created a policy making Work from Home permanent, SHARE and the hospital are still talking about Work from Home policy for SHARE members. Key issues for immediate negotiation include: which states caregivers may work from and/or be hired from, retroactive reimbursement for caregivers who were sent home starting in March 2020, and standards for temporary interruption to work from home capabilities. SHARE and UMass Memorial have agreed that we need to focus attention on this issue as soon as contract negotiations are finished. 

Our 4-year contract expires on September 30, 2026. We will start negotiating the next contract before that.  

The Full Contract Language 

This is a summary of the most important changes. If you want to read the actual contract language, keep your eyes open for an email with a link to the full contract language. At this moment, we are still ironing out some details with management, but we’ll let you know as soon as it’s ready to see.   

Questions? 

Watch your email for details about SHARE Information Meetings to answer any questions. We will also develop tools to make it easy to calculate how the pay increases will affect your individual pay rate in each year. In the meantime, you can reach out to your SHARE Organizer or SHARE Rep, or email share.comment@theshareunion.org. 

SHARE Negotiations Update – Inches Away from a Deal

Good news SHARE, members! The SHARE Negotiating Team believes that we will be able to announce a tentative agreement with the hospital next week. Negotiations on Thursday continued into Friday discussions, and we were able to resolve the biggest issue – raises.

We just have some smaller details and specifics to iron out – dotting i’s and crossing t’s – and we expect we can finish them next week. We know the wait is frustrating. Thank you for your patience. We can’t tell you more yet, but we expect to describe the agreement next week.

So, stay tuned. And, as always, thank you for all you do to support your union!

P.S., We say “tentative agreement” because no agreement is final until SHARE members vote on it. The SHARE Negotiating Team will present to you the best deal we think we can get, and then it’s up to you.

P.P.S., If you are new, and have not yet signed your SHARE union membership card, now is the time! Only SHARE members are eligible to vote in contract ratification. Click here for a link to the SHARE membership card – it just takes a minute.

P.P.P.S., In entirely unrelated news, the clock is ticking on the federal student debt relief program. But it’s easy to apply for loan forgiveness, and several resources for getting help. This post on the SHARE blog contains the latest updates.

SHARE Negotiations Update

This week we negotiated on Tuesday instead of Thursday. We have agreed to extend the contract again, this time through our next negotiating session. Next week we will be back to Thursday. For more general information about how negotiations works, check out these answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

In Negotiations, the SHARE Team has worked hard to depict what it’s like to work on the front lines and why members need good raises. It’s been meaningful to convey these messages directly from you. For a bigger sample of what we’ve presented to management, check out the “Always Essential" Gallery online . . .

Hanging the SHARE signature poster helps demonstrate how far and wide SHARE’s 3000 members work across UMass Memorial, and how much we do to support it. In the Emergency Department (seen above) they’re also describing why a good raise is so important.

“I need a good raise because”

At last week’s contract negotiations, photos of SHARE members — as well as “I need a good raise because . . .” signs — wallpapered the room around the negotiating table. The SHARE Negotiating Team continues to present the ideas and experiences of SHARE members to management — last week in pictures as well as the usual stories, numbers, charts, and graphs. SHARE members’ support matters both inside the negotiating room and outside in the departments. Standing up to support contract negotiations makes a real difference in our ability to negotiate a strong contract — we can tell that your efforts are being noticed by management. Thanks to you, we are getting very close — read on for details.

Raises – Getting Closer

Again, the majority of our discussion was about raises. The SHARE Negotiating Team put a creative package together in response to management’s proposal last week. We continue to talk about raises to address inflation, that are good for both high-paid SHARE members and for members in the less well-paid grades. We are getting closer and closer…

We are also discussing how many years the new contract should be for. The SHARE Negotiating Team says, “It all depends on the numbers.” Whether we lock in a shorter contract or a longer one, there are potential risks and rewards, depending on what the future brings. We could lock in a raise in times of high inflation that turns out to be great in a future year of low inflation. Or, it could turn out that inflation is high again that year. Two advantages of a longer contract: it locks in our health insurance and pension benefits, and it gives SHARE members predictability. One advantage of a shorter contract: we have the flexibility to address new issues as they arise.

Health Insurance & Pension

The SHARE Negotiating Team wants to protect the good health insurance benefits we have. Good news: the hospital is not proposing any cuts to these benefits. (The cost of health insurance will go up in January, but the premium split is defined our contract: SHARE members pay 15% of the total cost, while the hospital pays 85% of the cost.)

Promotion Increase, Bridging

We are talking about two more parts of the contract that have to do with pay rates: how much a SHARE member gets when they transfer or get promoted to a higher grade, and how much a re-hire gets offered for pay if they come back in less than 3 years.

Absenteeism & Leaves-of-Absence

We’ve mostly wrapped up this part of the negotiations. The state of Massachusetts now provides protections that duplicate protections we had negotiated in previous contracts. So, we’re working with UMass Memorial to make the system easier for members to use, removing Leaves that are now redundant. Beyond that, general attendance is as important as ever, given the tight staffing levels, and SHARE is carefully considering management’s concern that there may be overuse and abuse of time off in some areas, while advocating that SHARE members need to be able take time off from work, now more than ever.

Career Training

SHARE would like to create a state of the art training program so that SHARE members can get help to learn new skills and grow their careers at UMass Memorial. We think that hospital would like that too – but we are still working on what we can agree to going forward.

SHARE Updates: Negotiations & How You Can Help

SHARE Contract Negotiations Update: Fingers Crossed…

Contract negotiations on Thursday, October 6, moved us closer to a deal. Both the SHARE Negotiating Team and the hospital management team made moves to get closer to each other. While we can never predict how long it will take to get to a final agreement, Jay Hagan, SHARE Co-President on the Memorial campus says, “I’m optimistic. I’ve been through a lot of contract negotiations that went worse than this one. We hope to finish very soon.”

SHARE Co-President from the University Campus Rita Caputo, says “SHARE has been a good partner to the hospital — we worked hard through COVID, we’re doing Unit Based Teams, we testified against MGB taking insured patients from our region — and in negotiations we’re expecting our hospital to recognize that that’s valuable.”

SHARE members are showing their support for negotiations by posting the signature poster in their work area, wearing red on Thursdays, and coming to SHARE events. That really shows management that all 3000 SHARE members are paying attention to negotiations and care a lot about the outcome. SHARE’s negotiating team can’t do it without you!

The next negotiating date is Thursday, October 13th.

Kelly Fournier, from the SHARE Negotiating Team adds, “This is all new to me, this is my first contract negotiation. I had no idea how much goes into it. I’m learning a lot. More importantly, I feel like I’m working on behalf of my co-workers and SHARE members across our hospitals to make UMass Memorial a better place to work.”

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Next Steps: How YOU Can Help SHARE Get a Good Deal

We need to keep the momentum going. Let’s send another message to management about why good raises are important. SHARE wants to convey specifically why raises are important to you.

Click the button to download and print a poster. Then, name why you need a good raise: fill in the blank, take a picture with your poster, and email your photo to SHARE.

Share the poster with your co-workers, take single or group pictures, and send them back to us. If we get your photo by noon on Wednesday (October 12th) we can use it for negotiations on Thursday. It’s fine to take pictures in front of your heating oil tank, at the gas station, in the grocery store, anywhere you want – just make sure there’s are no patients in the pictures! We’ll also be using these photos on the SHARE website and our social media accounts.

It’s exciting to see so many SHARE members getting engaged in so many ways during this year’s negotiations. For more ways that you can keep updated, show your support, and be involved, check out the 2022 Negotiations section of the SHARE website.

SHARE Updates: YOU Are Making a Difference, Contract Extended, Free Classes, and More

Current Contract Extended

As you may know, our current contract with UMass Memorial expires today, September 30. However, we are still negotiating, so we have jointly agreed with the hospital to extend the existing contract for 2 weeks. 

The contract extension runs through October 14. The SHARE Negotiating Team is cautiously optimistic that we will be able to come to a new contract agreement in that time. Don’t worry, the SHARE Negotiating Team is totally clear that the raise has to be retroactive, so SHARE members don’t lose anything by the delay.

Our talks continue to move forward. SHARE and the hospital management both recognize the importance of delivering good raises as soon as possible. However, the SHARE negotiating team still cannot agree to management's most recent proposal. It is not enough.

You are making a difference. Thank you for the fantastic turnout at our first few Signature Poster events, for wearing red on Thursdays, and for all the ways you're showing that SHARE is sticking together for good raises. Want more ideas? Check out the special 2022 Negotiations section of the SHARE website! And read on for more . . .

UMass Memorial Works Because SHARE Members Do

When our community sees that, it makes a difference. Central Massachusetts relies on SHARE’s 3000 members for its healthcare. Let’s keep the momentum going! 

Send us your photos! We want our community to know we’re wearing red on Thursdays to show that SHARE members work everywhere in our hospital — UMass Memorial works because SHARE does! — and we’re sticking together for a good raise.

Thanks for coming out for Poster Events! Showing off the 2,400 signatures on the 2022 SHARE Signature Poster in your department is an important display of our union’s strength.

Work-from-Home Picnic POSTPONED 

We're sorry to say the weather doesn't look reliable enough on Saturday, so we're postponing the Saturday picnic due to rain 🌦 The event is being re-scheduled to Saturday, October 22, from 10am-noon. 

In the meantime, we'll be holding 2 virtual info sessions about contract negotiations for WFH employees:  

• Monday 10/3 - 12p-1:30p, and  

• Tuesday 10/4 - 5p-6:30p 

Details and Zoom links have been mailed to members in Work-from-Home departments. Please email SHARE if you did not receive that information. 

UMass Memorial to Offer Free Med-Term Course 

Organization and People Development is partnering with Quinsigamond Community College (QCC) to offer “Introduction to Medical Terminology” to UMMH caregivers. The course is live, online, instructor-led, and completely free to UMass Memorial employees. There are 15 sessions for a total of 45 learning hours. 

  
Interested caregivers can begin this Fall, or reserve a spot for January 2023. Learn more here 

Please note also that, if you have friends or family who were put out of work by the pandemic, QCC offers free courses through its Fast Track Skills Academy 

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Getting Covid Test Kits at No Cost 

SHARE members who take advantage of the health insurance through UMass Memorial are eligible for Covid test kits at no cost. Learn how to get them here.  

Additionally, test kits can be delivered to your door from the federal government. Learn more about this program – plus other ways to get free test kits – here.   

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Did you know that you can add an “Always Essential” SHARE logo to your email signature or virtual meeting backdrop?

SHARE Updates: Memorial Poster Event TODAY, Negotiations, UBTs Spotlights, and More!

Don’t forget: Memorial Campus Poster Event!

Let’s keep the momentum going! Come pick up a SHARE Signature Poster to hang in your department.

WHEN: Wednesday, September 28, noon-1:30

WHERE: outside the Memorial Amphitheater

WHY: To show we’re sticking together in support of good raises and a strong contract. Come take a picture with your co-workers and the poster, find your own signature, bring a copy back for your department, and pick up a Regatta sub.

Negotiations Update

As you may remember from the last contract update, SHARE recently received a counter-proposal from management about raises. It’s progress, but the SHARE Negotiating Team believes it’s not for SHARE members yet.

Now is the time for SHARE members to show support for strong contract. Two-thousand four-hundred SHARE members’ signatures on our 2022 Signature Poster makes a beautiful and powerful statement about what SHARE members care about. The SHARE Negotiating Team asks you to continue to show your support for a great contract: come to a Poster Unveiling event near you, put the poster up in your area, take pictures of SHARE members with their poster, and come to SHARE contract events. (See even more ways to show your support in this special section of the SHARE website dedicated to our current negotiations.)

Our message for the hospital management is this: SHARE members need good raises to attract and retain skilled, committed staff, especially to recognize all the sacrifices during COVID.

While raises are the main focus of contract negotiations, we are talking with management about how to support SHARE members’ career development, and how to help members who are dealing with housing crises due to the rapidly rising rent, among other issues.

The University Campus poster event was a great success. Next stop: Memorial!

News from the Partnership Office: UBT’s Making a Difference!

SHARE is excited to turn the spotlight on two recent UBT updates: the Rheumatology department on the Memorial campus has developed a useful system for communicating with patients about wait-times, and the new Psychiatry Lean Team at 100 Century Drive is making headway on new projects to improve patient care and how it feels to come to work everyday. The Partnership Office also offers this helpful tip for departments with UBTs to get more bang for their buck.

A Psychiatry Lean Team UBT meeting . . . bringing together teammates virtually and on-site

WORK-FROM-HOME PICNIC FOR A STRONG CONTRACT

In our ongoing series of events in support of a strong contract, SHARE is hosting a Work from Home Picnic in the park this Saturday morning. If your department primarily works from home, we hope you’ll join us to enjoy some free food, check out the Signature Poster, and have a good time with co-workers and fellow SHARE members in real life!  For more info, please contact SHARE.Comment@theshareunion.org

SHARE Updates: Poster Unveiling Event TODAY, New Negotiations Website, Spotlight on the Memorial Inpatient Pharmacy

Don’t Forget: 2022 Signature Poster Unveiling Event TODAY!

Over 2,400 SHARE members signed-on to our statement in support of a strong contract before it was time to send to the printer. Today we the reveal the poster in all of its glory. If you’re on the University campus, we encourage you to come to the big event. Come find your own signature on the poster, bring a copy back for your department, and enjoy a free sandwich. (More details on the flyer below.)

You can also pick up a poster at signature events including Memorial campus next Wednesday [[details]]. More sites, including for employees with work-from-home arrangements, will be announced soon.

New Contract Negotiations Website

The best way to find out about what’s happening in contract negotiations is to come to information meetings and talk with SHARE Reps and Organizers firsthand. So you can always have useful information at your fingertips, we’ve also dedicated a new section of the SHARE website to round up contract negotiation resources. On the new site you can find:

• Links to negotiations updates & contract event announcements

• Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about negotiations

• “Always Essential” graphics (with directions about how to add them to your email signature or virtual meeting background)

• And lots more ways that you can support a strong contract!

UBT Spotlight: Memorial Inpatient Pharmacy

Congratulations to the Unit Based Team in the Memorial Inpatient Pharmacy! SHARE members and other staff there are now experiencing smoother transitions among roles and shifts, thanks to a project designed to measure and improve communication. Learn more about how they did it in this UBT Spotlight post.

SHARE Updates: 25th Anniversary!

SHARE Is 25!

In September of 1997, staff at UMass Memorial voted decisively in favor of having their own union. And look at us now! We’ve negotiated solid raises every year since. We still have good health insurance at an affordable price. Every SHARE member still has a real pension . . . an uncommon benefit that provides stable, consistent income after retirement. Just as importantly, SHARE has developed an engaged community of members. We take care of ourselves and one another. And we have a say about where UMass Memorial goes from here. Happy Anniversary!

Rad Onc is wearing red to support a strong contract!

Negotiations Update

SHARE and UMass Memorial's negotiating teams continue to meet each Thursday. During our most recent session, management put on the table another counter-proposal for raises. SHARE's team can see that management's proposal moves closer to what members need, but believe that it's still not enough. SHARE's team again described the need for raises that meaningfully address the pressures of inflation, and provide wages that make hiring (and staying) at UMass Memorial more attractive.

SHARE and UMass Memorial have a tradition of reaching agreements that keep our members' wages ahead of the market. SHARE aims to continue that. The pandemic's extraordinary pressures shifted the job market significantly, and our next agreement requires more.

Negotiating side-tables continue to discuss career development as well as attendance. In our most recent session, management described their interest in absenteeism and curbing call-outs. SHARE agreed that staffing levels matter deeply to members -- especially as departments are now fatigued and short-staffed. SHARE made clear our interest in ensuring members can get time off without putting a burden on co-workers.

How You Can Help

It’s time to show some SHARE strength! Our negotiating team is making a strong case at the negotiating table, bringing forward thoughts and ideas you’ve shared. SHARE’s strength at the negotiating table comes from 3000 members staying informed and keeping connected. SHARE Signature events start next week — more details soon. Additionally, you can:

• Wear red on Thursdays to support good raises and a strong contract

• Complete the Competitive Compensation Research form when you learn about jobs at other employers — help us make the case to stay ahead of market pay rates

• Send photos to SHARE of you with your co-workers wearing red so we can show SHARE strength online

• Follow SHARE on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram).

It’s always a good time to wear your “Always Essential” SHARE button to show that we’re sticking together! (Need some for your department? Call or email and we’ll get them to you!)

Federal Student Debt Relief Update

Good news for federal student loan borrowers: Last month, the Biden administration again extended the pause on student debt repayment. The new extension includes a “fresh start” program, which erases the default and delinquency status on late payments for millions of borrowers.

Please note: to take advantage of this debt relief, some borrowers will need to take steps before Oct. 31, 2022.

Visit AFSCME’s Student Debt Resource Center to learn about federal student debt relief programs.

• You can read the full SHARE blog post about federal student debt relief here.

• You may also have seen that UMass Memorial recently announced a partnership with tuition.io for student debt relief management. In case you missed it, SHARE has reprinted the hospital’s announcement, which includes a list upcoming virtual information sessions about the program.

Labor Day Roundup

We hope that everyone had a meaningful Labor Day this year, with special thanks to those of you who were working on the holiday to take care of patients and our hospital. AFSCME President Lee Saunders marked the occasion with this thoughtful op-ed in Newsweek describing reasons that working people have to be optimistic now.

One of our own SHARE families joined SHARE organizers at the annual Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO Labor Day Rally this year . . . to be awarded a college scholarship! Congratulations to Adela Vasili, daughter of SHARE member Erlinda Vasili, and recipient of the $1000 prize. Adela is attending Holy Cross University.

SHARE Updates: Negotiations, Signing On, Wearing Red, and More

YOU Can Help SHARE Bring Home a Strong Contract!

Through countless conversations and survey responses, you’ve told SHARE what matters to you. Our negotiating team is making the case to the hospital that it needs to invest more in SHARE members. We need meaningful raises. Here are some ways to support SHARE now:

• Sign-on to the 2022 SHARE Poster for a Strong Contract. If you already signed — thank you! If you haven’t already, we urge you to do that asap! Just talk to the SHARE Rep in your area, or call or email the SHARE office.

• Wear red on Thursdays to show solidarity with the negotiating team as they meet with management.

• Every day is a good day to wear your SHARE “Always Essential” button!

• Stay informed! Read on below to learn what’s happening now. For a look back at recent updates, check out posts marked #Negotiations

SHARE members in Urology are wearing their red! Pictured here are SHARE Union Rep Miranda Leger, LPN; SHARE Union Rep Yvonne Ashworth-Thayer, LPN; and SHARE member Alexandra Towouh, LPN

Negotiations Update

Our negotiation sessions are still all about the money. After presenting initial proposals, both teams have made adjustments to their positions in response to the interests we’ve heard from each other. In case you’ve missed it, SHARE’s proposal is designed to:

• Take inflation and the rise in cost-of-living expenses into account.  

• Make sure SHARE members make progress every year as their experience grows.

• Catch up to what other employers are paying so that UMass Memorial can hire and fill positions, so SHARE members aren’t so short-staffed.  

• Deal with the fact that the rising minimum wage in Massachusetts, added to the national staffing shortage, makes it especially hard to retain staff.  

• Recognize SHARE members’ hard work during COVID and now – SHARE members are Always Essential!  

Negotiations Update: Side tables

While the main Negotiations is all about the money, two side tables are focused on other good things for SHARE members. The “Leaves & Absenteeism” side table continues to work to streamline the Leave of Absence programs. SHARE wants to make it easier for you to understand what programs are useful to you, while at the same time retaining the job protections currently available.

The “Career Advancement” side table is exploring ways to make it easier for you to get the education you want and to grow in careers at UMass Memorial. SHARE and management members had an exciting meeting with representatives from the Ben Hudnall Memorial Trust (BHMT) at Kaiser Permanente, a nationwide healthcare provider network based on the West Coast engaged in Labor Management Partnership. The BHMT has developed over the years to help over 110,000 union members have access to training and academic degree programs with zero out-of-pocket costs. Their system provides a useful model for what our hospital and union could do right here.

SHARE Testifies for Bed Expansion

SHARE testified in support of adding beds at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health virtual hearing about UMass Memorial’s application to add 91 new inpatient beds: 72 at the “NIB” (New Inpatient Building, the old Beaumont nursing home building next to University Campus), and 19 at Memorial.

In her testimony, SHARE Organizer Janet Wilder described how difficult it is for SHARE staff to provide care in these circumstances: feeling bad for making patients wait, always juggling, always running – it’s exhausting! Read the full post here . . .

Updates from the SHARE-UMass Memorial Partnership Office

SHARE’s Unit Based Teams continue to expand and make important strides toward improving how it feels to come to work in our hospital. And the SHARE-UMass Memorial Partnership Office continues to develop new ways to support those teams. We’re excited to hear these new updates from them . . .

PCA Committee Off to a Strong Start

Congratulations on launching your team!

Already got a UBT? Check this out . . .

Contract Negotiations Update: It's All About the Money

As SHARE Members made clear in the 2022 Contract Surveys, raises are SHARE’s top priority for negotiations. Last week the SHARE Negotiating Team put our first raise proposal on the table to the hospital. Our proposal aims to:  

• Take inflation and the rise in cost-of-living expenses into account  

• Make sure SHARE members make progress every year as their experience grows  

• Catch up to what other employers are paying so that UMass Memorial can hire and fill positions, so SHARE members aren’t so short-staffed.  

• Deal with the fact that the rising minimum wage in Massachusetts, added to the national staffing shortage, makes it especially hard to retain staff.  

• Recognize SHARE members’ hard work during COVID and now – SHARE members are Always Essential!  

To see slides from the presentation about the economics that SHARE members are living with, click here. 

As expected, UMass Memorial has made a counter-proposal. The good news is that UMass Memorial is also focused on retention and recruitment. Discussions are respectful and constructive – recognizing that SHARE and the hospital have common interests in retention and recruitment. That said, the SHARE Negotiating Team is not satisfied yet with the numbers on the table – so we’ll keep talking.  

SHARE and UMass Memorial will continue to negotiate about raises. Maybe an agreement is just around the corner, but maybe not. SHARE intends to be ready to make the point that this agreement matters to all 2948 SHARE members. That’s where you can help – we need all SHARE members to show that they are paying attention and ready to help get a strong contract. If you haven’t already, it’s particularly vital that you sign on now to the SHARE poster. (Lots and lots of SHARE members have already signed – thank you!)  

***  

Additionally this week, UMass Memorial Leave Program Coordinator Sandy Clougherty joined the “Absenteeism” negotiations side table to describe the many leave-of-absence options available to SHARE members, and how the various leaves interrelate and overlap. The hospital wants to look at the number of policies, try to simplify them, so that SHARE members can have the same level of job protections with a more tailored set of leave options.   

The “Careers” negotiations side table is discussing lots of ideas for helping SHARE members to learn new skills and different jobs, if they want. SHARE and UMass Memorial agree that creating a pipeline for caregivers to come into UMass Memorial in an entry-level job, and move up to build their career, is good for both SHARE members and the hospital. 

SHARE Updates: Info Table TODAY, Negotiations, Opportunity for PCAs

Reminder: University Campus Negotiations Information Table TODAY

Don’t forget! SHARE will have an information table set up outside the old main entrance to the University Campus hospital, near the Prescription Center today, Tuesday, August 9, from 11:30am-1:00pm. Please come by to talk with SHARE organizers about what’s happening in Contract Negotiations. And, please bring your co-workers to sign the poster in support of good raises and a strong contract.

NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE: TALKING ABOUT MONEY 

SHARE and UMass Memorial negotiating teams continue to discuss money. The Medical Center’s Chief Financial Officer, Therese Day, recently made a presentation to both teams. Day described the hospital’s current financial status, addressing questions provided to her ahead of time by the SHARE negotiating team. She described recent financial losses, due largely to the increasing costs of running the hospital and evaporating COVID support from the government. She was clear that a big part of the problem is that travelers and incentives are pushing up labor costs, as well as inflation in supplies prices.  

Day was also clear that UMass Memorial must solve its staffing problems, though her role was not to talk specifics about raises. Because reimbursement rates aren’t rising as fast as costs, departments are looking for ways to make the difference for next year’s budget. She assured the SHARE Negotiating Team that the hospital’s approach is to grow in ways that increase revenue, rather than making cuts. She described ways that the hospital could expand some of its most profitable work to help offset losses.  

SHARE has since made an initial comprehensive wage proposal that aims to account for the surge in cost-of-living expenses, make predictable financial progress, keep SHARE jobs competitive in the market, and recognize the essential service SHARE members provide for our community. While discussions about money continue, negotiating teams subcommittees have begun to discuss in greater depth career opportunities for SHARE members, and attendance. 

Are you a PCA or MHC? Participate in This Conversation, Get A $75 Gift Card

Design Impact and ReThink Health are looking to understand the work experience of Patient Care Associates and Mental Health Counselors – what brings you joy and what makes it hard. In particular, their team is interested in when you feel like your dignity is being respected at work and when you feel like its not being respected. They aim to help people in jobs like yours to feel more strongly valued, at work and in the world. They’re pulling together some sessions on Zoom the week of August 22nd. The sessions will be 90 minutes long, and they will pay you $75 dollars for your time. You just need to sign up for one. We think participating will be a good experience, and that it could help PCAs around the country. You can contact the program directly (see the flyers below), or email Will Erickson (will.erickson@theshareunion.org) with questions or to connect with this opportunity.

SHARE Digest: Contested Election in Region C, Negotiations Update, Signature Poster & More

SHARE Rep & Executive Board Elections — Contested in Region C

The SHARE Rep and Executive Board nominations period has closed, and we are excited to see so many members actively engaged to keep our union running strong. There were sufficient openings for all of the nominated SHARE Rep candidates, and most of the open EBoard positions were uncontested. There is one contested election in University Technical & Diagnostic Region C. Eligible voters are being sent a link to vote from ElectionBuddy at their work email address and cell phone number that SHARE has on file. ElectionBuddy, a virtual voting platform, is compliant with Department of Labor standards for union elections. To learn more about this election, including whether you are in a department which is eligible to vote, read more here. We will post a full list of 2022 SHARE EBoard and Reps after August 9 when the election is finalized.

SHARE 2022 Signature Poster

As always, SHARE members are coming together this negotiations in support of our negotiating team and shared interests. One way we’re doing this is through our 2022 Signature Poster. You can find examples of posters from past negotiations in departments throughout UMass Memorial, with thousands of signatures and photos of SHARE members standing together. Our 2022 statement addresses the difficulties we’ve worked through and continue to face: working through Covid, working in short-staffed areas, and working while financially stressed. We’re calling on our hospital to agree to raises that will make it smart and sustainable to stay in our jobs at UMass Memorial, and to recruit and retain co-workers to help us keep our hospital running strong. Read the full statement, and learn how you can sign on, here.

Final SHARE Survey Report

SHARE members completed over 4000 surveys on 4 different subjects earlier this year to help steer the SHARE Negotiating Team’s priorities in our current contract talks. SHARE prepared this comprehensive multi-page Survey Report which served as the core of our opening statement in negotiations with management.

This is only the first page of the full report . . . to read the rest, click the red button below

Contract Negotiations

The central SHARE and UMass Memorial negotiating teams continue to work toward our next Contract Bargaining Agreement. Here are some highlights:

• Given the primacy and urgency of wages in these negotiations, SHARE and UMass Memorial have taken an unconventional approach, agreeing to begin discussing raise-related issues early in our talks.

• SHARE presented to management about the needs of SHARE members when it comes to wages, pulling together data about the spikes in living costs, informed predictions about things to come, and stories about hardships currently faced by SHARE members.

• Management described concerns about absenteeism in the context of the hospital’s staffing shortage.

• Delegates from both negotiating teams met together with leaders from the Patient and Family Advisory Councils (PFACs) to discuss how to better involve patients’ interests directly in our negotiation process. Although the PFAC will not be bargaining, we do want to recognize where their interests align with those of SHARE members and our hospital.

• The next proposed negotiation subject will be a presentation by hospital management about UMass Memorial’s finances.

Equity Seed Program Now Accepting Applications

The Health Equity & Inclusion Seed Program is currently accepting grant applications from departments with ideas for projects that use “cutting-edge approaches to generate new findings and resources to eliminate health disparities.” Learn more about this program, including how your department can apply for funding. Grants are already being distributed.

AFSCME Free College Program Discontinued

The SHARE office has received the unhappy news that the US Department of Education now disallows educational programs such as the ones offered through the AFSCME Free College and UnionPlus benefits. Many SHARE members have benefitted from these programs over the past several years. It appears that currently-enrolled students can continue in their programs. Read more here.

Sign on to the New SHARE Negotiations Poster & Show Your Support for a Strong Contract

Remember this blast from the past? Do you know where your signature appeared on this poster from 2016?

If you’ve been around for SHARE’s previous contract negotiations with the hospital, you know how important it is that management recognizes how connected our union is. Even now, if you look around departments in our hospital, you can find posters we’ve used to demonstrate SHARE’s strength:

• that SHARE is the biggest union in our hospital, now with almost 3000 members in roughly 170 different job titles,

• that UMass Memorial works because SHARE members do,

• and that SHARE members keep informed and will stick together for a strong contract.

The poster we assembled during our last negotiations was a beauty, with hundreds of photos, and in each of those photos, a handful of SHARE members held signs to name a vital function they serve in our community. For negotiations in 2022, we’re putting together another poster to describe to our community what SHARE members have been through and what we need to keep moving forward. We encourage you to put your name on it! SHARE Reps and organizers have already begun collecting signatures around the hospital. We want our community to know we care.

If you’d like to schedule for a SHARE Rep to bring a signature sheet to your area, please call the SHARE office: 508-929-4020.

Here’s what the 2022 SHARE Signature Poster will say:

SHARE Members Are Always Essential 

We are the nearly 3000 SHARE members who – through thick and thin -- keep UMass Memorial Medical Center, UMass Memorial Medical Group, and UMass Memorial Health running. Whether we care directly for patients or work in the background, these last two years have been incredibly difficult:  

Working through COVID.

We maintained the frontline to protect Central Massachusetts throughout the pandemic. We came to work every day, knowing that we could be putting our lives and our families at risk. While COVID surges came and went, patients were our priority. Now we are exhausted, and, at the same time, proud of how well we have taken care of our community. 

Working Short.

In response to the pandemic, across the country, workers continue to leave healthcare. The national staffing shortage has placed an incredible burden on our shoulders – caring for our patients without enough staff. Still, we persevere.   

Working while Financially Stressed.

As if COVID and short staffing aren’t bad enough, inflation is our biggest worry right now. Gas, food, rent – everyone’s costs are rising rapidly. We know that increases in the cost of living hit people at the bottom of the pay scale hardest. We watch as co-workers leave to make more money elsewhere. 

Recruitment and Retention

A good contract is essential for SHARE members and for UMass Memorial. Together we must address our immediate financial challenges, attract new people to fill open positions, and create career pathways for SHARE members to learn and grow at UMass Memorial.  

We want to stay at UMass Memorial

Our work through our Unit Based Teams shows how much we care about making this the best place to give care so it can be the best place to get care. We strive to make this a place where everyone treats each other with genuine kindness and respect. A good contract makes it possible for us to stay. 

We will stand together as the SHARE Union

Our patients, our families, and our community depend on us.

SHARE MEMBERS 2022 CONTRACT SURVEY RESULTS

SHARE members filled out over 4000 surveys to prepare for contract negotiations this year on a range of topics: retention and why staff stay or leave, benefits, career opportunities, our COVID experience, money, and our priorities for contract negotiations. SHARE members have been through a lot, and have a lot to say.

This final report puts it all together under the following headings:

1. Raises Are Our Top Priority

2. Keeping Staff: Pay and Staffing Levels Go Hand and Hand

3. COVID: What We’ve Been Through

4. High Priority: Hold onto Great Benefits

5. Career Opportunities for SHARE Members: So Much Potential

6. Respect and the Daily Experience

The SHARE negotiating team has used this information to help define our union’s priorities. The team presented the report in its entirety to management in negotiations as part of its opening statement.

Blog Digest: Nomination Deadline NOON TODAY & Negotiations Update

Last Call for 2022 SHARE Rep and Executive Board Nominations

Find full details here: https://theshareunion.net/NominationsandElectionNoticeSHARE2022.pdf

If you know someone who would make a good rep, especially in a department that doesn’t have a SHARE rep, please nominate them. Someone from SHARE will call them to see if they accept the nomination.

Contract Negotiations Update

After meeting twice for training and ground-rules discussions, SHARE & UMass Memorial management’s negotiating teams met last Thursday for our first official negotiating session. You can read a more detailed report of that session online. Here’s an overview:

• Both teams opened with introductory statements (described in the full post). SHARE’s opening statement focused on the results from our series of surveys earlier in the year, and on the need, now more than ever, for meaningful raises.

• The teams got to know each other better with introductions from each individual negotiator, in which they described how long they’ve been working with UMass Memorial and/or SHARE, what they do in their current job role, and a bit about their life and interests outside of work. See the list of negotiators in the blog post.

• Both teams are now preparing financial presentations as a prospective topic for the next negotiation session.

The SHARE 2022 Contract Negotiations Team: (kneeling, left-right): Kim Latrobe, Kellie Morton, Tracy O’Donnell; (middle row): Kathy Girouard, Jana Hollingsworth, Deb Clark, Christean Hughes; (back row): Janet Wilder, Rita Caputo, Deb Largesse, Jay Hagan, Deb Engvall, Carol Hehir, Kona Enders; (not pictured): AJ Iaconi, Armon Rad, Elisabeth Szanto, Kirk Davis, Tameka McDaniel-Vasquez

Contract Negotiations: Opening Statements & Personal Introductions

After meeting twice for training and ground-rules discussions, SHARE & UMass Memorial management’s negotiating teams met last Thursday for our first official negotiating session.

Current Highlights

The SHARE 2022 Contract Negotiations Team: (kneeling, left-right): Kim Latrobe, Kellie Morton, Tracy O’Donnell; (middle row): Kathy Girouard, Jana Hollingsworth, Deb Clark, Christean Hughes; (back row): Janet Wilder, Rita Caputo, Deb Largesse, Jay Hagan, Deb Engvall, Carol Hehir, Kona Enders; (not pictured): AJ Iaconi, Armon Rad, Elisabeth Szanto, Kirk Davis, Tameka McDaniel-Vasquez

• Both teams opened with introductory statements (described below). SHARE’s opening statement focused on the results from our series of surveys earlier in the year, and on the need, now more than ever, for meaningful raises.

• The teams got to know each other better with introductions from each individual negotiator, in which they described how long they’ve been working with UMass Memorial and/or SHARE, what they do in their current job role, and a bit about their life and interests outside of work. See the list of negotiators below.

• Both teams are now preparing financial presentations as a prospective topic for the next negotiation session.

SHARE Opening Statement: Partnership & Hard Conversations

Lead SHARE Negotiator Janet Wilder kicked off the opening statements by providing a broad overview of SHARE’s current relationship with UMass Memorial and our developing Labor Management Partnership, which has worked strategically to align around our common interests. This includes Unit Based Teams, and lobbying together against the expansion of Mass General Brigham’s into Central Massachusetts, a program designed to poach primarily well-insured patients to its own clinics. Janet also pointed out that although SHARE will, as always, maintain respectful discussions, she warned that partnership isn’t about “niceness,” that instead it lays the groundwork to have hard conversations, especially around the issues we would be raising in negotiations.

SHARE Opening Statement: Member Priorities

Based on countless conversations among SHARE members and SHARE leaders, as well as the 4069 completed surveys, Janet described that what’s really clear is that:

1.      Raises are the top priority for members—they always are, but they overshadow SHARE members’ other interests more than usual;

2.      Members have a strong interest in retaining and recruiting co-workers, an issue seen as very interconnected with raises;

3.      SHARE members want to describe their experience working through Covid;

4.      Benefits (especially Health Insurance and the pension), and

5.      Career Opportunities remain extremely important.

Beyond that, there is a basket of issues that are extremely important to large segments of the SHARE membership, including Work-from-Home issues, Unit Based Teams, etc.

Bringing SHARE Member Voice Directly into Negotiations

To round out the Opening Statement, members of the SHARE negotiating team each read from the SHARE Survey Report, which summarizes the results from all four SHARE surveys. SHARE members made a number of powerful comments in the surveys, which the Negotiating Team read aloud as well. We will post that report soon.

UMass Memorial Management Opening Statement

Mike Pacinda delivered the opening statement on behalf of UMass Memorial management, acknowledging challenges that confront the hospital and the SHARE members who work there. He began by crediting front-line staff and management. “Things feel different now . . . they are different now. We all know what we’ve been through,” he said. “Since this pandemic started, people have been working extraordinarily hard in trying times and with new processes.”

Mike went on to describe additional work that he has personally been involved with in partnership with SHARE, including work throughout the pandemic to establish systems for redeployment and the hospital’s labor pools, when some SHARE members had to shift from their regular jobs to serve as screeners and prescription couriers, among other things.

He also recognized the hard conversations we had around vaccine mandate, where SHARE worked in partnership to help SHARE members get access to the vaccine as well as answers to their questions, while at the same time objecting to some of the ways the mandate was implemented: “that was hard for a lot of people,” Mike said.

Which brings us, Mike said, to the perfect storm we’re in now: the short staffing and overtime mandates, people leaving jobs in record numbers, and the unprecedented leaves due to Covid.  “Managers aren’t immune to this either, working hard to keep positions and schedules filled,” he said, describing the recruitment challenges. “We all really want to tail off the use of travelers and focus on full-time staff.”

At same time, Mike maintained that the SHARE-UMass Memorial partnership has helped us get through this . . . and that we would be in a much more difficult place without partnership, without the consistent transparency, bringing together subject matter experts, updates on Covid numbers, redeployment & problem solving teams. Those helped UMass Memorial avoid layoffs and furloughs. Mike described how he spoke daily or more with SHARE leaders. That, coupled with our overlapping interests – interest in fair equitable raises, quick process, maintaining respectful relationships, and a sustainable contract that strengthens the hospital for the future, serve as an important foundation for these negotiations. “My hope is that we have enough tools here, plus trust respect and confidence, that we can address many of these issues and resolve this contract in a way that is positive for both parties,” Mike said. “The management team looks forward to getting going in earnest.”

Who’s Who on the Negotiating Teams

Mike Pacinda (Lead Management Negotiator): Senior Labor and Employee Relations Specialist

Janet Wilder (Lead SHARE Negotiator): SHARE Organizer

Shannon Taylor: Human Resources Business Partner

Karen Pendergast: Human Resources Business Partner

Jackie Baronowski: Director, Community Medical Group Billing

Sue McCabe: Vice President of Operations, Community Medical Group

Cassandra Trice: Director of Registration Services

Deb Engvall: SHARE Organizer

Kellie Morton: Medical Assistant, Outpatient Oncology & SHARE Organizer

Kirk Davis: SHARE Organizer

Mabel Romeo: Director, Health Information Management

Christean Hughes: Accounts Receivable Specialist II, Community Medical Group Billing & SHARE Executive Board

Kim Latrobe: Technologist, Surgical Vascular Lab & SHARE Rep

Donna Vickery: Human Resources Business Partner

Dena Briggs: Human Resources Business Partner

Joy Cournoyer: Director, Single Billing Office

Jana Hollingsworth: SHARE Organizer

Zailee Estrada: Director, Patient Access

Nick Potvin: Nurse Manager 3 East

Rachel Carragher: Manager, Respiratory Care

Kathy Girouard: Senior Coding Specialist, Vascular Lab & SHARE Union Treasurer

Deb Largesse: SHARE Organizer

Tracy O’Donnell: Senior Medical Administrative Secretary, Memorial Hospital Medicine & SHARE Executive Board

Stephanie Doan-Soares: UMass Memorial Administrative Fellow, Anchor Mission program

Debra Clark: Unit Secretary, Clinical Decision Unit & SHARE Union Secretary

Rita Caputo: Ambulatory Services Rep, Primary Care Clinic & SHARE Union Co-President, University Campus

Jay Hagan: CT Technologist & SHARE Union Co-President, Memorial Campus

Ian Copland: Financial Planning

Kona Enders: Patient Care Associate, 3 West & SHARE Organizer

Carol Hehir: SHARE Organizer

Shavel Aldolphe: Senior Director, Ambulatory Operations

AJ Iaconi: SHARE Organizer

Tameka McDaniel-Vasquez: Financial Clearance Specialist, Insurance Verification & SHARE Executive Board

Armon Rad: Lead Registration Rep & SHARE Executive Board

Elisabeth Szanto: SHARE Organizer

Partnership Office: Will Erickson, Crystal Swenson & Steph Pepi

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Learn more

See all of the published news about negotiations in blog posts labeled #Negotiations

University SHARE Contract Drop-In TODAY

University Campus Info Table

Today, Friday, July 8

11:30am-1pm

OUTSIDE, near the Prescription Center (old west entrance)

Join SHARE organizers today to talk about the upcoming negotiations with UMass Memorial. Share what matters most to you, learn how you can help advocate for a strong contract, and pick up a pin to show your support.

The SHARE 2022 Contract Negotiations Team: (kneeling, left-right): Kim Latrobe, Kellie Morton, Tracy O’Donnell; (middle row): Kathy Girouard, Jana Hollingsworth, Deb Clark, Christean Hughes; (back row): Janet Wilder, Rita Caputo, Deb Largesse, Jay Hagan, Deb Engvall, Carol Hehir, Kona Enders; (not pictured): AJ Iaconi, Armon Rad, Elisabeth Szanto, Kirk Davis, Tameka McDaniel-Vasquez

Contract Negotiations Update: Week 2 of Training & Ground Rules

Current Highlights 

• Teams from SHARE and UMass Memorial continue our weekly meeting schedule for Contract Negotiations. This week was the second of two sessions facilitated by professor Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld to lay the groundwork for our process. (Read about our first session here.) 

• The teams worked to set ground rules for negotiations, and to name likely subcommittees that would focus on specific subjects.  

• Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld has told us that leaders at the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) have shown interest in the innovative ways that SHARE and UMass Memorial negotiate together, and have asked to observe some of our discussions.  

Hopes and Fears, Speed and Money

Last week, each team independently assessed the current union-management relations, and named its hopes and fears for negotiations. During this session, Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld shared those results.  

Developing a Winning Strategy : The teams had some “fun with a purpose,” as Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld puts it, participating in “The Stakeholder Bargaining Game,” where the objective is to bargain for as much money as you can get. The outcome of our game was typical, we were told, and showed that groups tend to come out better financially if they choose a more cooperative stance rather than a coercive one. The group that came out with the most money – by far – was the most cooperative, and demonstrated that the winning strategy is to change the rules of the game. 

There are a lot of interests to consider. Both teams clearly want to continue our approach to partnership, both want to make our hospital successful, and both agree that the Standards of Respect should be more deeply experienced in the day-to-day by all caregivers.  

At the top of our lists, both teams clearly indicated a strong desire to come to an agreement about raises, recognizing how rapidly the economy is changing, and the importance of retaining and recruiting strong staff for our hospital.

Why is FMCS interested in how we negotiate? 

The FMCS is an independent government agency whose mission is to preserve and promote labor-management peace and cooperation. Though they encourage Labor-Management partnerships and interest-based bargaining methods, those remain relatively uncommon. SHARE and UMass Memorial’s experiences with partnership show that the successes of our strategy continue to build. And we’re continuing to pioneer new ideas.  

Often in bargaining, developing a broader perspective can help drive consensus . . . as negotiator William Ury puts it, two sides often come to agreement by “going to the ‘third side.’” One new development we’re exploring is to get more direct input from patients, consulting with UMass Memorial’s own Patient-Family Advisory Council as a way of aligning our interests and truly making our hospital the best place to get and give care.  

What’s Next? 

Next Thursday, both sides will deliver their introductory statements. And, we will spend time doing individual introductions – we find that improving relationships makes for more productive discussions and better conclusions. 

Contract Negotiations Are Underway

On Thursday, June 23rd, SHARE and UMass Memorial officially kicked off negotiations toward our next Contract Bargaining Agreement with a joint-training between the SHARE Team and the Med Center management Team.

Current Highlights

• The first two sessions are being facilitated by Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, a professor at Brandeis who studies Labor-management partnerships. Joel has worked with unions and management in healthcare and other industries, and has a history of helping SHARE and UMass Memorial work through negotiations. Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld is currently teaching both teams about Interest Based Bargaining.

• Negotiations are currently scheduled to take place weekly, four hours a day, every Thursday

• We heard from staff that the top bargaining priorities are: pay, followed by respect. SHARE members have a variety of other interests, but it’s clear that we need to keep the health insurance and other benefits strong. And it’s clear that SHARE members often feel burned out and unappreciated (see more highlights of the survey here).

• SHARE is also paying close attention to what’s happening with other union negotiations, including our sister SHARE Union at Marlborough hospital, as well as our neighboring MNA unions, both at Memorial (which has already reached a Tentative Agreement with the hospital) and University (which has not yet)

About the Teams

SHARE Union Co-Presidents Jay Hagan (Memorial Campus) and Rita Caputo (University Campus) at the table

Roughly forty people attended the Interest Based Bargaining training with Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld, including frontline managers, Human Resources Business Partners, representatives from the Partnership Office, the SHARE Executive Board, and the SHARE organizing staff. The lead negotiator for hospital management will be Michael Pacinda, a senior Labor Relations specialist at UMass Memorial; Lead Organizer Janet Wilder will again coordinate the team for SHARE.

Both lead negotiators described the difficulty of negotiating in a moment like this one, when hospitals everywhere are short-handed and caregivers — including SHARE members and managers — are exhausted. And, at the same time, both described the heightened importance of this negotiations to do something good and real and important in the face of that challenge. Janet Wilder encouraged the negotiators to dig into this in a curious way: “We’re more likely to come out with better answers to things if we bring joy and fun to this,” she said.

A History Lesson & Our historical Moment

Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld has helped to lead large-scale change initiatives in public and private sectors in Australia, Bermuda, Canada, England, Iceland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Panama, and the United States . . . including at previous negotiations between SHARE and UMass Memorial

Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld described that there’s real importance to what we’re doing . . . that SHARE and UMass Memorial are pioneering an uncommon model of partnership, one that has drawn national attention, including from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services leadership in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld opened with the story of a pivotal moment when Ford and the United Auto Workers Union met to negotiate and realized they would have to do something untraditional, working together in ways that they never had before, or they would almost certainly face the catastrophic collapse of their company. (They adopted an IBB model for negotiations and came back strong; meanwhile, GM and Chrysler continued as usual and were forced to file for bankruptcy.)

Learning IBB

There was an unprecedented amount of theatrical shouting in the initial session, which was a lot of fun and served its purpose . . . but wasn’t as productive as we expect our actual negotiations to be. Through a variety of exercises, conversations, and simulations, the teams explored how the different negotiation styles bring about different results.

The teams spent most of the session learning about and discussing the differences between traditional bargaining—which typically begins from strongly held positions and involves coercive forms of power, and Interest Based Bargaining — which aims toward mutual gains and win-win solutions. In IBB, teams follow a series of steps to mutually understand the facts of the current situation and understand the other side’s interests before proposing solutions to the problems.

What’s Next

The teams will meet again next Thursday, when each negotiator will introduce themselves individually, and, with Dr. Cutcher-Gershenfeld’s help, we’ll begin to “bargain about how to bargain,” reviewing and revising the agreements we’ve made in the past about ground rules, how we’ll develop consensus, and ways that we expect to discuss differences.

Reminder & Time Change: Information Meeting TODAY

MEMORIAL CAMPUS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS INFORMATION MEETING

outside the Memorial Amphitheater

Thursday, June 23

12:30-1:30

Note that, because of a scheduling conflict with our first negotiation session, we have moved the time of this information meeting back slightly.

Join the SHARE organizing staff to discuss the beginning of SHARE’s contract negotiations with UMass Memorial Hospital. We will describe SHARE’s priorities and answer any questions you may have. Also, we will have chocolates. 😎