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American Teacher December 2000/January 2001--Our Union
Members of the AFT-affiliated Oregon Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (OFNHP) have ratified the first national union agreement in the health care industry. In late September, following years of planning, months of meetings and the involvement of hundreds of members and managers at health care employer Kaiser Permanente, OFNHP members voted--by 90 percent--to incorporate into their local contracts a five-year national agreement in which unions and employees are integrated into planning and decision-making forums at all levels, including budget, operations, strategic initiatives, quality processes and staffing. "Through this agreement, the members of our unions who work at Kaiser Permanente are guaranteed a greater voice in the decisions that affect the patient care and services we deliver," says OFNHP president Kathy Schmidt. In addition to joint decision-making power, the agreement gives OFNHP nurses minimum wage increases of 7.5 percent in each of the first two years, 5 percent in 2002, 4 percent in 2003 and 4.5 percent in 2004, with additional raises tied to the meeting of performance targets in each of the last two years. Dental hygienists and technicians will receive pay increases of 4 percent in each of the first three years and 3 percent and 3.5 percent in the last two years. Schmidt notes that there are improvements in benefit and retirement monies as well. The coordinated collective bargaining process covered more than 60,000 employees with as many as 33 contracts in 25 locals of eight international unions at the largest health maintenance organization in the United States. Improved patient care and employee job security, along with a stronger voice for health care professionals, were among the primary bargaining goals. One of the joint decision-making areas is staffing. "The agreement to give frontline care-delivery union members joint decision-making rights with their managers over staffing and quality of care and quality of service is something that every health care professional who's ever formed a union ... [has] always dreamed of," says Schmidt. This unusual approach to bargaining in the health care industry was born three years ago when Kaiser Permanente and its unions signed on to a National Labor Management Partnership Agreement in which both would work as equals. The deal included the AFL-CIO's agreement to promote Kaiser as the health plan of choice for members and Kaiser's agreement to voluntarily recognize unions where employees registered their interest in joining.
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American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO - 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW - Washington, DC 20001 Copyright by the American Federation of Teachers, AFL•CIO. All
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