College Scholarship Opportunity: Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO

The SHARE office recently received the following notice in the mail from Joe Carlson, the President of the Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO, about a really great scholarship opportunity for our members. The lottery for these scholarships will be open to any SHARE members, as well as children and grandchildren of our members, who will graduate from high school this year and attend college next year. The details are posted below. Please note that applications should NOT be sent to the SHARE office. If you would like a copy of the nomination form, please click here

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To: All Affiliated Locals of the Central Mass AFL/CIO,

We are pleased to announce that we will be awarding six $1,000.00 scholarships as well as a number of  $500 Platinum sponsored scholarships.

The scholarship recipients will be drawn by lottery at the May community services committee meeting and the winners will be announced at the Annual Scholarship Golf Tournament on Friday, June 5, 2015.

The scholarships will be presented at the Labor Day breakfast September 7 2015

To be eligible, the student must be a 2015 graduating high school senior and going on to college, and a child, grandchild, or member whose local is affiliated with the Central Ma. AFL/CIO. Union members must live or work in the jurisdiction of the Central Ma. AFL/CIO.

All names must be submitted by May 1, 2015 and returned to:

Paul Soucy

AFL/CIO Labor Community Services

Central Ma. AFL-CIO

400 Washington St

Auburn, Ma. 01501

Fraternally Yours,
Joseph P. Carlson, President
Central Massachusetts AFL/CIO

SHARE Voices: When to Pick Workplace Battles

In this SHARE Blog Review, Union co-president Sherry Nguyen describes a useful article for weighing options in dispute resolution. As a SHARE member you can also use our Problem Solving processes, as well as receive support from SHARE representatives. Please contact the SHARE office for help.

And, if you would like to submit an idea, a request, or a submission for publication on the SHARE UMMS blog, please email your thoughts to kirk.davis@theshareunion.org

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When to Pick Workplace Battles

Submitted by Sherry Nguyen

A few weeks ago I read an informative article in the Wall Street Journal by Sue Shellenbarger, and I’d like to share some of the key points with you.  We’ve all experienced tensions in workplace, whether with coworkers or superiors.  The question is what to do about it.  Although most people try to avoid conflict, this is neither the most productive nor healthiest route.  Avoidance can create more useless tension that has a negative effect on productivity and creates unhealthy stress levels.

So what can be done?  In the article, “To Fight or Not to Fight? When to Pick Workplace Battles,” Shellenbarger emphasizes that the best action depends on the situation.  There are definitely some situations where waging war would be a losing battle and retreat is the most prudent action. Some of these situations include:

• Picking fights over issues that are not relevant to your work or outside of your area(s) of responsibility
• Battling over trivial issues based on personality or power
• Waging war without offering solutions or suggestions

(Read the article at http://www.wsj.com/articles/picking-your-workplace-battles-1418772621 for more situations and details.)

Along with these suggestions as when not to do battle, the article offered winning strategies when you do decide that confronting the situation is the best way to proceed. These winning strategies include planning ahead, talking with your colleagues, and knowing when it is appropriate to disagree.     I highly recommend you read more (link) about these winning strategies.

Conflicts are a fact of life.  While it can be risky to speak up – hurt feelings, a damaged career -- not speaking up, especially if the annoyance is shared by others, can result in simmering frustrations which can lead to passive aggressive behaviors such as slacking off and backstabbing.  While learning when to pick a battle is an art worth learning, you have the benefit of SHARE staff who has the experience to help you through it, either with you in meetings with your supervisor or behind the scenes as a coach. 

The article “To Fight or Not to Fight? When to Pick Workplace Battles” was written by Sue Shellenbarger, and appeared in the Wall Street Journal on 12/16/14.

UPDATE: Change in Overtime Policy

The negotiated change to the Overtime Policy will be reflected in the next paycheck (the one issued January 30, for this week and last week's work.) SHARE recently received this revised implementation date from Human Resources, which comes sooner than reported in a previous blog post.

These changes will not affect SHARE members in Animal Medicine, Psych Continuing Care Units, and Public Safety.

In the most recent SHARE-UMMS contract negotiations, the Medical School management team approached our union with the intent to reduce the Overtime paid to SHARE members. The SHARE negotiating team contended that many members rely on OT as an essential part of their wages. And, because some departments use OT as an inherent part of their staffing model, or sometimes mandate employees to work OT in order to get urgent work done, maintaining the OT pay standards would be particularly important there.

After research and discussion, we reached an agreement with the employer that makes some changes to the policy, but which works to protect those core concerns. The new policy, as it appears in the current SHARE contract, is copied below.

Overtime

Monday-Friday, day-shift-only departments:

Employees in these departments shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of forty (40) hours per week. Effective 1/1/2015, if sick leave, vacation time, holiday compensatory time or personal time is used in the same work week, it shall not be considered as time worked for the purposes of calculating overtime compensation. Holidays shall be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. It is the intention of the parties that employees in these departments should not generally be forced to work overtime. If a particular department requires the use of forced overtime, the parties will meet to discuss the matter.

Departments with weekend shifts, evening shifts or night shifts:

Employees in these departments shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of forty (40) hours per week. For employees in these departments, holidays, vacation time, holiday compensatory time and personal time shall continue to be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. Sick time shall not be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. Employees in these departments shall continue to be compensated at the rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of their regularly scheduled shift, as long as that shift is at least 8 hours.

These departments are: Animal Medicine, Psych Continuing Care Units, and Public Safety.

Review of effect of overtime rules:

UMMS and SHARE will convene a joint committee to study the effect of this Overtime article on departments and employees, in both kinds of departments. If there are concerns on either side, the parties will discuss them. (See also Side Letter on Overtime and UMMS Finances.)

2015 SHARE Dues

SHARE bi-weekly dues will increase in January 2015:

• For full-time employees the new rate will be $16.78/paycheck. (The 2014 rate was $16.48.)

• For employees budgeted for 20 hours/week, the new rate will be prorated at $12.59/paycheck. (The 2014 rate was $12.37)

The dues rates are set by our parent union, AFSCME (American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees), every year. If there's a rate change it happens in January and the new rate is based on the average salary raise that all 1.5 million members across the country got in the previous year. 

Where do the dues go?

Most of the dues pay for SHARE staff, the office rent, office supplies, mailings, etc. The money supports the work of the union here at the Medical School (and in our sister unions at UMass Memorial, Harvard University, and the Cambridge Health Alliance) helping members with issues at work, building connections across the campuses, supporting people who have been laid off, distributing information about issues of importance to SHARE members, negotiating contracts, etc. 

The remaining portion of the dues goes to the national union in Washington -- they spend that money on advocating for AFSCME members as a whole, including research and lobbying about issues. (Support for political candidates comes from AFSCME's Political Action Committee, not from dues money.) 

Questions?

If you have any questions about the 2015 dues rates, please contact the SHARE office at: 

share.umms@theshareunion.org 

508-929-4020

Vacation Caps and Overtime

Some of the changes negotiated in the contract will take place a little later than planned. As with the raise and retro, these dates are not guaranteed, but HR Operations has given us their intended schedule:

Vacation Cap Lowered and Excess Paid Out

• 320 hours to 280 hours: March 13, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled "on or after 11/1/14")
• 280 hours to 240 hours: July 3, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled 4/1/15)

Overtime Rules Change for Mon-Fri, day-shift-only departments

• February 13, 2015 paycheck (originally scheduled for 1/1/2015). No change for departments with weekend shifts, evening shifts or night shifts.

Below are the contract sections about Vacation Cap Payout and about Overtime. 
Click here for the complete contract language.

Contract Language on Vacation Cap Payout (p.26)

"Vacation accrual caps will be reduced from 320 hours to 280 hours on or after 11/1/14, and then to 240 hours on 4/1/15. Employees with vacation accruals above the cap will be paid the hours in excess of the cap at their current rate of pay. 

Employees who request vacation time with proper notice, are denied the time, and then exceed their cap, will be paid the value of the time that they would have accrued had the request been granted."

Contract Language on Overtime Rules Change (p. 24)

"Monday-Friday, day-shift-only departments:

Employees in these departments shall be compensated at the rate of time and one-half their regular rate of pay for authorized overtime work performed in excess of forty (40) hours per week. Effective 1/1/2015, if sick leave, vacation time, holiday compensatory time or personal time is used in the same work week, it shall not be considered as time worked for the purposes of calculating overtime compensation. Holidays shall be considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime compensation. 

It is the intention of the parties that employees in these departments should not generally be forced to work overtime. If a particular department requires the use of forced overtime, the parties will meet to discuss the matter."

SHARE Executive Board and Area Reps

Congratulations to the 2014-2015 SHARE Leaders!

Executive Board
Sherry Nguyen, DES - Co-President
Dianne Williams, Psychiatry - Co-President
Kathy Bateman, Pathology - Treasurer
Holly St. Jean, Psych CCU - Secretary
Christopher Barry, Animal Medicine - At-large Executive Board Member
Matt Gurinian, CCU - At-large Executive Board Member

Valerie Mount, Animal Medicine - At-large Executive Board Member

Yarelis Velez, DES-OH, - At-large Executive Board Member

Area Reps
Tammy Brailey, MaPS - Main Campus
Karen Lekas, Biochem & Molec Pharm - Main Campus
Tina Pierce, Office of Undergrad Med Ed - Main Campus
Belinda O'Brien, DES-OH - South Street
Christine Carrion, Dept Comm Svcs - South Street
Erika Rios, DES-OH - South Street
Dana Gurry, Medicare Appeals - South Street
Stephanie Therrien, Medicare Appeals - South Street
Virginia Bombard, Estate Recovery - South Street
Trisha Fortin, Clinical Pharmacy Services - South Street
Lidia Miranda, DES - South Street
A. J. Iaconi, CCU
Sean Martin, CCU
Amanda Elinoff, Psychiatry- Offsites


An Area Rep keeps in touch with up to fifty co-workers in their area, helping to make sure that members' questions are answered and their opinions and concerns are heard. If you would like to be involved, please let us know - extra volunteers are always welcome.

Executive Board members help keep in touch with co-workers in their area too, but they also meet monthly about what is going on in the whole union, make decisions about issues facing the union, and participate in contract negotiations when they are happening.

Retro!

The Retro payments for the 2013 and 2014 raises have been paid in this week's check. Many thanks to HR Operations for all their hard work.

The November 7 paycheck, which first showed the new higher rates, covered the pay period from October 19 to November 1. So the retro is for everything before October 19:

• 1st raise                 x   hours paid June 30, 2013 - June 28, 2014; PLUS
• 1st and 2nd raise   x   hours paid June 29, 2014 - October 18, 2014

We have had a number of calls and emails from members with questions about their retro calculation. We are working to get more information so that we can help answer questions.