CHOCOLATE DAY!

Everyone welcome!  Pure chocolate festivity everywhere you look. 

Chocolate Day is a SHARE tradition, an open invitation to enjoy some tasty things. 

Now is an important time for SHARE. The two branches of our union include almost 3,200 members at UMMS and UMMHC, all of whom face new kinds of change. Medical research and healthcare delivery confront major technological and economic shifts. We all grapple with redesign of our work.

By itself, even the very richest, gooiest home-baked brownie isn’t going to make the challenges any smaller or farther away. We build our strength by sharing our stories with one another.

And so, we invite you to join us to share a couple cookies and some conversation. And to maybe swap a recipe or two.

2015 SHARE NOMINATIONS OPEN September 16th - October 1st.

All SHARE members should receive a postcard at home announcing that the 2015 nominations are open for SHARE Representatives and SHARE Executive Board.

The strength of our union lies in the active participation of it's members! 

There are lots of ways to participate: coming to union meetings, giving your input, reading the blog, keeping in touch with coworkers, signing petitions, asking questions, etc. 

SHARE Area Representatives (or Reps) are members who volunteer to help with communication - making sure that every SHARE member knows someone who is active with the union. Reps are elected for one-year terms, but can serve multiple terms. Ideally there would be at least one Rep in every department or area. As a minimum, we will elect one union Rep for every 50 SHARE members, to keep people connected in their area. The positions are: 5 for the main campus; 3 for South Street; 2 for CCU; 1 for all offsite locations together. Extra volunteers are always welcome.

SHARE Executive Board Members (or E-Board Members) have responsibility for the whole union.  Executive Board Members participate in contract negotiations when they are happening, and make decisions about the direction of our union. This year four Executive Board Members will be elected for 2-year terms: President; Secretary and two at-large Executive Board members.

To run for Rep or E-Board Member you must be nominated in writing, either by a co-worker or by yourself.  You must also have been a dues-paying SHARE member for at least the last 6 months. Nominations open Wednesday, September 16, 2015 and all nominations must arrive at the SHARE office by noon Thursday, October 1st, 2015.

Nominations should include:

• the name, department and phone number of the person you are nominating,
• the position for which you are nominating them, and 
• your name and phone number.  

You may send an email to share.elections@theshareunion.org or fax nominations to the SHARE office at 508-929-4040, but it is a good idea to call to confirm that your nomination arrived. The phone number at the SHARE office is 508-929-4020.

After the close of the nomination period, all nominees will be given the opportunity to decline the nomination.  If they do not decline, their name goes on the ballot. If there are more candidates than positions, we will hold an election on Wednesday, October 28 2015; times and locations for voting will be mailed to all SHARE members.

If you want to talk about what it would be like to be a SHARE Rep or to be on the Executive Board, or if you have questions, please call the SHARE office (508-929-4020) or talk to someone you know who is involved with SHARE. 

SHARE Raise, Merit Award, Vacation Caps and July 4th Holiday

We hope that you are having a great summer so far! We wanted to remind you about a couple of things that are happening this month:

SHARE Raise

Your raise for 2015 has gone into effect June 28^th, 2015 and it will be reflected on your July 17^th paycheck. The raise is 2% or $0.40, whichever is higher for employees who have successfully completed their probationary period. The minimums and maximums of each grade increased by 1.5%.

SHARE Merit Award

This year as part of SHARE’s salary increase, employees with an “Exceeds” rating in their performance evaluation will receive an additional $100 lump sum, and those with an “Outstanding” rating will receive a $250 lump sum. The lump sum payout will be delivered in your July 17^th paycheck.

Vacation Caps

Vacation caps were lowered from 280 to 240 hours. If you had vacation accruals above the 240-hours cap, a one-time payout for the hours in excess of the cap will appear on your July 3^rd, 2015 paycheck.

July 4th Holiday
Most SHARE members will not have to work tomorrow, Friday July 3. Some SHARE members may be required to work in order to keep their department open that day. Those employees will have Monday, July 6 off. There is more information about the July 4th holiday posted here: Questions about July 3

If you have more questions about any of this, talk to a SHARE rep in your area, or call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020.

Happy Independence Day!

SHARE

Keep Moving!

Thank you to Janet Huehls, a Certified Wellness Coach and Registered Clinical Exercise Physiologist here at UMMS, for the following insightful advice. And to SHARE Treasurer Kathy Bateman for sending it in to be posted on the blog!

This weekly email, provided by the exercise program at UMass Memorial Weight Center, is also blog: www.keepmovingweekly.wordpress.com

  Please become a subscriber to the blog by clicking the link above and sign up using the icon on the right side of the home page.  Once you sign up, email me and let me know you can be removed from the email list.  Friends and family are welcome to sign up for the blog as well. 

Thank you!

The term “sitting is the new smoking” is not an exaggeration.

“Sitting is more dangerous than smoking, kills more people than HIV and is more treacherous than parachuting. We are sitting ourselves to death.” James Levine, MD, PhD. Researcher Mayo Clinic and founder of N.E.A.T.

The human body is amazingly designed to move.  Each system works better when we move and suffers when we are inactive.  Even if you exercise regularly, prolonged sitting still puts you at risk.

This is powerful knowledge because anyone can improve health in this way.  If you can move, even in a small way, you can improve health by moving often.

Our current environment provides us with many reasons to sit and has led us to the newer science of inactivity.  Like opposite sides of the same coin, exercise physiology studies what happens in the body when we move and inactivity physiology studies what happens when we are still.  It turns out both studies are critical for understanding health.

The physiology of inactivity has discovered that when we don’t move, things start to back up in the cells. The process to deal with sugar and fats in the blood slows down or halts.  Sugar and fats in the blood accumulate and are triggers for disease.

The good news is that it does not take much movement to get the system working again. Simply moving from sitting to standing, taking a short walk, stretching – all activate the muscles’ ability to manage these triggers for disease.

Standing desks are one attempt to fix this problem, but standing still is not much better.  Imagine stagnant water, things accumulate.  Inactivity or simply stillness is the root of the problem.  We need to move to get the system working.

If you exercise regularly no one would call you a couch potato. But…you can be an active couch potato. The chair does not care if you exercise regularly or not – stillness will cause these changes in the body despite your fitness level.

The term lifestyle activity is used to describe how much we move during the day. Getting 10,000 steps a day on a pedometer all at once  does not have the same benefit as taking 5000 steps in one shot and then spreading the other 5000 out during the rest of the day.

When you are trying to lose weight or maintain weight loss add a goal for lifestyle activity in addition to exercise goals.  Often, lifestyle activity is a great first step if you are not ready to exercise yet and a great addition if you are exercising but the scale is not budging.

Bottom line – how often we move during the day is as important as how often we exercise in a week.

Keep Moving, Be Well,

Janet

These weekly emails are general guidelines. These guidelines apply to patients who are cleared by a physician for the type of exercise described.  Please contact your physician with any concerns or questions. Always report any symptoms associated with exercise, such as pain, irregular heartbeats, and dizziness or fainting, to your physician.  

Janet Huehls, MA, RCEP, CYT, CWCRegistered Clinical Exercise Physiologist

Certified Wellness Coach UMass Memorial Weight Center 774-443-3886

Questions about July 3

Q. Do SHARE members have to work on July 3?

A. Most SHARE members will not have to work on Friday, July 3. Some SHARE members may be required to work in order to keep their department open that day. Those employees will have Monday, July 6 off. 

Q. Do I have to use my own time to take July 3 off?

A. No. If you do not have to work July 3, you will be paid for the holiday.

Q. How will my time be counted if I work July 3 and take July 6 off?

A. If you do work July 3, you will earn holiday compensatory time, which you can use to take July 6 off. (For rules about what counts toward the calculation of overtime, see the section "Overtime" on page 24 of the SHARE contract.)

Q. How can I find out if I have to work on July 3?

A. If your department needs to be open on July 3, the department manager will make a plan for the necessary coverage and communicate that to any employees who will be asked to work that day. If you are not sure if you will be expected to work, check with your supervisor.


If you have more questions about any of this, talk to a SHARE rep in your area, or call the SHARE office at 508-929-4020.

Fourth of July Holiday

UMMS HR recently sent a memo about the Fourth of July holiday which said that "the University of Massachusetts Medical School will be officially open for business on Friday, July 3, 2015 and Monday, July 6, 2015." This has caused some confusion, since most SHARE members were expecting to have Friday, July 3 off, because that is the way that Saturday holidays have been handled in the past.

We reached out to HR to clarify, and have two reassuring messages to relay:

1. No one is losing out on getting a holiday, although some UMMS departments may need some staffing on Friday.
2. HR will send out a clarification, this week we hope, about which departments will need skeleton staffing and which can be closed on July 3.

EAP & Thought for the Day

“Don't let what you can't do stop you from doing what you can do.”  -John Wooden

Quotes like this one can land in your inbox on a weekly basis, along with a short motivational message. To get yourself some regular inspiration, simply sign up for the free "Thought of the Day" email on the Employee Assistance Program webpage.

We can't mention the Thought of the Day here without putting in a good word for the Employee Assistance Program itself. We consistently hear that the EAP counselors are thoughtful, wise, and helpful. And the SHARE organizing staff knows from personal experience that the EAP staff offers important support and guidance, regarding both workplace and personal issues, for employees of the UMass community. 

About the EAP: The UMass Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is a workplace-based program providing consultation, assessment, intervention, information and referral for employees and their household members. The EAP offers personal assistance to address a variety of issues, including individual, family and work-related concerns. The EAP is free and confidential  to the full extent of the law.  Employees and household members can obtain assessment, short-term problem-focused intervention, and referral and information for treatment or other assistance.We are conveniently located in Worcester, MA and serve all of Central Massachusetts.