CHEU Newsletter May 2023

Submitted by ADonahue on

CHO

Shop steward Jenny Phong is getting techs ready for their upcoming bargaining. Techs at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland will be fighting for improvements in working conditions. Management has been abusing the call system, using it as a staffing tool. Techs are overworked and need more time off. Techs will be fighting for improvements in paid to keep up with the increasing coast of living in the Bay Area.

Kindred Baldwin Park

CHEU Steward Rosita Peridia and RN Rosalie Aniel join forces to revamp the Professional Practice Committee/CHEU Committee to address staffing and patient safety concerns. Management has began implementing PPC/CHEU recommendations to improve working conditions and even started doing walk-throughs in units to listen to healthcare employees concerns. Our next step will be to recruit more leaders to join our PPC/CHEU Committee.

USC Arcadia Hospital

USCAH CHEU members continue to fight for a fair contract. Priorities are safe staffing and a wage grid that would address issues of inequity and help improve recruitment and retention. CHEU members at USCAH are currently preparing to picket in solidarity with CNA RNs who are also in negotiations with the hospital and experiencing some of the same issues. Here is a picture piece that was recently put together.

Glendale Memorial

GMH successfully bargained the accretion of three positions into CHEU bargaining unit – Care Coordinator Assistants, OR Coordinator, and PeriOp Mtls Coordinator – winning wage improvements, workload improvement and accretion into existing CHEU CBA.

CHEU Bargaining kicked off March 7th represented by Christopher - Transport, Viviana - EVS, Chase - Surgical Tech and Jennifer - X Ray tech. The Bargaining team brings over 45years of service at Glendale Memorial.

Palomar Health

For months, Palomar Health Food and Nutrition Services members pointed out concerns with faulty or broken equipment in the various kitchens. Some of the faulty equipment included a lifted floor in front of a refrigerator that posed a fall risk, inadequate shelving in the walk-in cooler, broken food warmers, cash registers that needed servicing, and more. These issues were not being addressed by the Palomar Health Management. The Patient Care/Staffing Issues Committee made it clear that they were not going to allow for these pressing concerns to be ignored for much longer. After two months of pushing for the improvements, HR agreed to schedule a walk-through with our CHEU members to take inventory of the issues. The union requested to exclude management from the walk-through given the time it has taken to resolve these issues. As of now, some of the improvements included the cash register and the food warmers which makes huge improvements in the ability to provide safe patient care. Caregivers united fighting for improvements to patient care have been victorious at Palomar Health.

San Gabriel Valley Medical Center

At San Gabriel Valley Medical Center we have been able to expand our CHEU bargaining unit with 31 additional new members! We are proud to announce we won by an overwhelming majority. Our leaders worked diligently to have one-on-one conversations with their colleagues right up until the day of the vote, and made sure that every yes vote came out to cast their ballot. Our new members are eager to begin bargaining and our existing CHEU members at the same facility are ready to help support them to win a strong contract.

Shasta Regional

It’s about UNITY - CHEU members at Shasta Regional have joined forces with their RN colleagues in the fight to protect patients after the Employer canceled a contract with a Dialysis company providing in-house treatment to patients with the expectation the Shasta staff members would assume the future care with only one hour of training. Also, Shasta LVNs are joined by RNs to fight the exploitation of the LVN. CHEU leaders continue to build power and unity in the facility with plans for steward training and building their patient care committee.

Alta Bates

Phlebotomists at Summit Medical Center are uniting to address ergonomic problems related to new equipment, and to overcome management intimidation related to meal and rest-break rights. Recently, management introduced new carts weighing over 45 lbs and designed for taller users to replace the older carts that phlebotomists use to transport blood-draw equipment throughout the hospital. Additionally, phlebotomists have encountered repeated efforts by management to discourage the filing of missed meal and rest-break penalties. Phlebotomists plan to meet soon to discuss a collective strategy to reverse these troubling management practices.