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SHARE Opposes Increased Healthcare Costs for Public Employees

As the largest union at UMass Medical School, SHARE brings an important perspective to those Massachusetts state leaders who grapple with budget decisions. At the recent Union Lobby day, we pushed to limit the out-of-pocket expenses that enrollees pay for GIC health plans, contending that public employees should not be so burdened paying for their healthcare. SHARE JOIN Fellow Jihelah Greenwald provides this report about the event . . .

Every year, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO organizes a Union Lobby day. The MA AFL-CIO invites union members and staff from around the state to gather at the capitol to speak with their respective state legislators, lobby on behalf of their members, and demonstrate the collective power of unions.

This October, SHARE sent three organizers to the capitol to lobby our state legislators: Andrea Caceres, Eve Feldberg, and Jihelah Greenwald. Before talking to a few Worcester representatives, the three attended a workshop led by other union leaders to learn about this year’s six legislative goals to support working people:

• raising the minimum wage,
• establish collective bargaining rights for Uber and Lyft drivers,
• bolster the current unemployment safety net while economic times are good,
• ask Governor Baker to keep the MBTA bus system public,
• stop wage theft, and
• limit out-of-pocket healthcare spending for public sector employees covered under the GIC.

Since not all of these issues apply to SHARE members, the SHARE team partnered with a Sheriff's department union member and a MBTA union member from central Massachusetts so each person could speak about the issues that applied to their union.

At the state house our SHARE team and their new union friends, lobbied legislators including Sen. Ryan Fattman and Rep. Joseph McKenna. While the legislators they spoke to were not publicly in favor of most of the issues they were bringing forward, the legislators were open to engaging in conversation and hear about how these issues effect union members who are often their constituents. The SHARE team spoke on behalf of the minimum wage issue, which would have a positive effect on SHARE members' wages because many pay grades begin at a rate below $15/hour. Many of our members who are just beginning their careers often want to invest in further education because they know higher degrees and certifications could increase their wage earning opportunities for the rest of their lives. However, while working full-time for UMass Memorial or UMMS they are unable to make ends meet. So instead of using the spare time to go to school, they are forced to take a second or third jobs to achieve short-term financial stability.

The team also lobbied about high out-of-pocket spending for GIC recipients– an issue that has become increasingly important with our members in the SHARE UMMS local. In the GIC plan, caps on out-of-pocket spending has risen to $5,000/year for individuals and $10,000/year for families! Healthcare costs that high deter our members from getting the preventative care they deserve, can be financially catastrophic for members who are dealing with family medical crises, and, in general, adds stress on members who feel unable to afford to take care of their family's health. This issue is close to the congresspeople's hearts, because they are also covered on the GIC healthcare plan, and were able to personally relate to the problem of high healthcare costs. *

That day the state house was covered with union people winding through every hall meeting with their legislators. It is hard to know if SHARE's individual lobbying efforts changed the minds and votes of any congresspeople, but the overall impact of our collective actions was tangible. Which is the entire point of unions. On our own, it is hard to convince anyone to share wealth or power. But together we are able to negotiate better contracts, or, on a day like Union Lobby Day, influence state laws to benefit all working people. And we know that happier, financially stable working people are the foundation for happy, healthy businesses and communities. It felt invigorating to meet people from all over the state who are active in their unions and local communities, and to remember that even though SHARE UMass Medical and UMMS members work every day in our pocket in Worcester, we are part of a bigger effort to support workers throughout Massachusetts.

* According to AFL-CIO statistics, the state's Group Insurance Commission (GIC)--which dictates health plan costs and structures for Massachusetts employees, including those of us at UMass Medical School--has shifted nearly 300 million dollars of healthcare costs onto workers through increased copayments and deductibles since 2015.

In FY2015, nearly 1,700 families in the GIC had out-of-pocket expenses over $5,000, with many of those families paying up to the current cap of $10,000. (These out-of-pocket expenses are in addition to their premium contributions.) The newly-proposed legislation would cap out-of-pocket maximums for active and retired public employees at $2,500 for individuals, and $5,000 per family.

We are working with other unions to support bills introduced by Senator James Timilty (S.1474) and Representative Paul Mark (H.2569). These are designed to limit the out-of-pocket expenses that enrollees pay for GIC health plans.

SHARE Your Thoughts with SHARE: 2017 SHARE-UMMS Contract Survey

Please take our Contract Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VFNVBBP

The current SHARE-UMMS contract expires on June 30, 2018. The elected SHARE leaders and Organizing staff are now preparing for our upcoming negotiations. One of the first steps is to assess the current state of SHARE. We will use this initial survey to help define our negotiating priorities.

The survey is anonymous, and should take 5-10 minutes to complete.

The survey deadline is Tuesday, December 12th.

As always, throughout the negotiation process, we will have many, many conversations as a union, including regular Information Meetings. Thank you in advance for completing this survey and helping us develop a framework for our ongoing conversations.

We expect to have have shorter follow-up questionnaires to focus on more specific negotiating items. Please stay tuned for those opportunities to give us feedback because hearing from members from all areas of UMass is a vital component of contract negotiations. Please encourage all of your SHARE friends and colleagues to participate.

Announcing the 2017-18 SHARE EBoard and Reps

We are excited to announce our 2017-2018 SHARE Union Executive Board and Representatives!

In the coming year, our Executive Board members will be around the table with management negotiating our next contract, while our representatives have stepped up as union point-people and resources for their coworkers.

Congratulations and thank you to all of our new and continuing elected SHARE leaders, listed below.

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Kathleen Bateman, Pathology -- Co-President

A.J. Iaconi, Psych CCU -- Treasurer

Jameal Jackson, CEAP South Street -- At-large Executive Board Member

Antonio Jimenez, Psych CCU -- At-large Executive Board Member

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

Tina Pierce, Office of Undergrad Med Ed -- At-large Executive Board Member

AREA REPS

CCU

Danielle Brewster, Psych --CCU

Charles Gayflor, Psych -- CCU

Devon Poirier, Psych – CCU

Main Campus

Christopher Barry, Animal Medicine

Beverly Potts, Animal Medicine

Carlos Ortiz, Asset Management

Karen Lekas, Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology

Tara Washington, Bursar

Lisa Mendes, Medicine

Feston Idrizi, Molecular Cell & Cancer Biology

Daneal Portman, Molecular Cell & Cancer Biology

Sharlene Hubbard, Pathology
Cody Whitcomb, Cardiovascular

Off-Site

Max Trojano, Psychiatry Clinical Research

Ryan Bottary, Emergency Medicine

South Street

Melanie Gazdzik, CEAP

Belinda O'Brien, DES

Stephanie Therrien, Medicare Appeals

And thank you all for strengthening SHARE.

If you have interest in becoming a point person for your department, please reach out to us. Extra volunteers are always wanted and needed!

AFSCME Free College Benefit: Register Now for January Classes

It’s a great time to be online with AFSCME's Free College benefit. Spring 2018 classes start January 16th, so don't delay. Get started right away to take advantage of this opportunity for you and your family, and you won’t have to pay a penny out of pocket. Thousands of AFSCME members have already signed up for classes and are sharing this benefit with their spouses, children and grandchildren as well. Spouse to spouse, parent to child or grandparent to grandchild, AFSCME’s partnership with Eastern Gateway Community College allows members to share this valuable college degree opportunity awhere it means the most. Right in your own home with your own family! Eastern Gateway Community College is a public, fully accredited, open-access college in Ohio, and credits are transferable. No entrance exam or placement test is required; you only need to complete the EGCC application, send in your high school or GED transcript, and apply for and use any available federal financial aid. AFSCME Free College will cover the difference for tuition, fees and e-books. The AFSCME Free College benefit is bigger and better than ever, so spring into action with us this January. Visit us at FreeCollege.AFSCME.org or call toll free at 1-888-590-9009 to take the next step to a brighter future.

No Vote Required for EBoard and Reps this Year

We are happy to announce that we received 23 nominations for 2017-2018 SHARE Representative and Executive Board elections. There are 26 available Representative positions and 4 Executive Board positions, so we will not be holding representative elections this year. 

Please look for a complete list of our union Representatives and Executive Board members in a forthcoming blog post. 

So Fun! 20th Anniversary Celebration on the University Campus

SHARE: 20 Years Old
&
3200 Strong

By the Numbers

Nine hundred attendees, give or take a few. That’s how many people dropped in for SHARE’s 20th Anniversary Celebration on the University Campus. SHARE members came down during lunchtime to the Faculty Conference Room from desks and bedsides and lab benches, and even bussed over from other campuses.

In other nifty statistics, our celebration had nine raffle winners. More importantly, altogether, the raffle participants contributed nearly five hundred dollars to the UMass Medicine Cancer Walk and Run.

SHARE Rep Rich Leufstedt
reprises his famous "SHARE Song"

A Festive Atmosphere

We were excited to catch up with old friends: SHARE retirees, SHARE members who have been promoted to management positions, and some beloved SHARE members who have moved on to other careers. Joining us, too, were many guests, including students, faculty, nurses, executive leaders from our Hospital and Medical School, members of sister unions, and even a few folks who just wandered in wondering what the hubbub was about.  

We ate. We sang. We marveled a bit at how SHARE’s values of kindness and respect have translated into policies and work systems that enable SHARE members to participate at work. We did an awful lot of smiling.

SHARE-UMMS EBoard Member AJ Iaconi
describes how a Joint Working Group
at the Critical Care Unit has improved working conditions
and patient care

Support from an Old Friend

Congressman Jim McGovern
commended the courage of employees
who voted to unionize

Congressman Jim McGovern returned with some keynote remarks to the University Campus where he championed our union in the beginning. He reminisced about the unscoopable frozen-solid ice cream that we chiseled into servings at a rally back-in-the-day. He distinctly remembered, he said, coming away from that event as a great admirer of the trailblazers at SHARE. And he reminded us that, twenty years ago, the formation of SHARE was the result of the largest organizing effort central Massachusetts had seen in over sixty years.

Congressman McGovern encouraged us to continue being brave in our efforts, saying that SHARE members were not only important to one another in the room, and to our institutions, but because we’re a vital union that makes the middle class possible.

More to Come in SHARE’s 20th Year

SHARE-UMMS Executive Board Member
Val Mount talks about
the importance of unions to Central Mass

The event also marked a great kickoff occasion leading into next-year’s contract negotiations. Both SHARE at UMass Medical School and SHARE at UMass Memorial Hospital will sit down at the table with our respective employers next year.

In the coming year, at anniversary events throughout our campuses, we’ll continue celebrating, and reflecting, and thinking ahead together. To keep up, be sure to subscribe to the SHARE blog, and check in to learn about developments at www.theshareunion.org/20years

New SHARE/JOIN Fellow Eve Feldberg explains
how an increased minimum wage
benefits SHARE members and other members of our community

SHARE Rep and PCA Kona Enders
describes how SHARE members stick together

Nice shout-out from Congressman McGovern on his Facebook page!