Kaiser Permanente - UFCW Local 21 and Alliance Members Win Bonus for Hard Work Through the Pandemic!!

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UFCW Local 21 and Alliance Members Win Bonus for Hard Work Through the Pandemic!!

As an appreciation for our hard work in partnership during this extraordinarily challenging year KP has agreed to our proposal for all UFCW and Alliance union members to receive a guaranteed Full PSP bonus payout. The news comes after KP agreed earlier in the week to extend COVID-19 benefits, including sick leave and childcare benefits, through the first quarter of next year.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Alliance called on KP to revisit Performance Sharing Plan (PSP) goals bargained under pre-pandemic conditions. Given the unprecedented pandemic, redeployments of Trust-funded staff, the inability of many UBTs to meet, and even bad faith negotiations in one region – we had called on KP to convert the PSP to a guaranteed full payout. As a result, KP is granting partner unions with PSP at least 100% performance payout. Regions and individuals performing higher than 100% will receive the higher performance payout based on their plan’s performance. The payment will be paid in March on schedule with the regular PSP payment cycle.

Hal Ruddick, Executive Director of the Alliance, said, “We are pleased to see KP recognize the extraordinary and courageous contributions of our members and our partnership in the face of this overwhelming crisis. As our members cope with a barrage of misinformation, pain, and suffering, we can acknowledge these two victories, which are a direct result of identifying shared interests and putting forward solutions to meet this moment head-on.”

We congratulate our Alliance union leadership and members for their expertise, dedication, and hard work during this year.

UFCW Local 21 and Alliance Members from Across the United States Bargain to Extend COVID-19 Benefits for Union Members

After weeks of discussions with KP leaders, we are pleased to announce Alliance members will continue to receive COVID-19 sick leave and childcare benefits through the first quarter of next year.

COVID-19 Sick Leave Benefits

With the resurgence of COVID-19 cases, the Alliance has been calling on KP to extend COVID-19 benefits through the first quarter of next year. The COVID-19 sick leave benefits were set to expire December 31 and have now been extended to March 31, 2021. In particular, the Alliance had called on KP to refresh sick leave for individuals who have previously used the benefit. KP is providing up to 80 hours of sick leave to refresh on January 1, 2021. Unused hours in 2020 will not roll over. The sick leave benefit eligibility ends March 31, with benefits to be used by April 30, 2021. The eligibility and other details of the benefit remain the same and are in the attached slide.

Childcare Grant

Similar to the COVID-19 sick leave, the childcare grant has been extended and the grant eligibility remains the same. Alliance leadership continues to raise the issue of extending the childcare benefit to people who work from home as well as other issues related to childcare/school closure, including the need for flexibility around scheduling, attendance, voluntary temporary shift/hours changes, and other changes to help employees meet their unprecedented family obligations. The program is set to expire on April 3, 2021.

Union News

Wage Increases

  • Our union colleagues from Local 21 received a 2.25% wage increase on October 1, 2020

WA State Paid Family Leave

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Labor Management Partnership (LMP) Update

By Ralph Stumbo, RT, UBT Consultant

As the Labor Management Partnership (LMP) continues to develop at KPWA you are going to hear new terms and acronyms and you will hear about new programs and teams being developed. I would like to spend a moment with you to introduce one of those new acronyms; APR.

APR stands for Alliance Partnership Representative. As UFCW 21 members in KPWA we are also members in the Alliance of Healthcare Unions. An APR at KPWA “represents” Alliance members in “partnership activities” at KPWA. APRs are members who have stepped out of their regular position and are performing “partnership” duties full time. At this stage of the LMP at KPWA that means participation on many different committees and teams whose focus is getting the KP-Alliance National Agreement fully implemented at KPWA. While there will always be a need to represent the Alliance on committees it will also include LMP training and helping to support and build labors capacity to be good partners in the Labor Management Partnership.

Since June 2019 I have been actively involved in implementing partnership at KPWA. In January 2021 Kim Liddell from the Pharmacy Fulfillment center at Renton will be joining me as an APR at KPWA. At the same time the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions (representing SEIU 1199NW & OPEIU Local 8 will have four Union Partnership Representatives (UPR’s). This represents a huge step forward for partnership at KPWA and you can look forward to an increase in labors ability help grow partnership to all areas of KPWA. Please join me in welcoming Kim to her new role as Alliance Partnership Representative.

Workforce Development with Labor Management Partership 

Workforce Development is a Labor-Management Partnership (LMP) program with goals to develop the workforce of the future at Kaiser Permanente WA (KPWA), build pathways for retention and career progression, and build the skills and competencies of KPWA staff through a culture of lifelong learning.

The Workforce Planning and Development (WFPD) Committee, a group of labor and management representatives from different roles throughout KPWA, collaborated to develop this Training Needs Assessment Survey. The survey is designed to capture your views and values of developing new skills and career advancement needs within KPWA. The goal of the survey is to collect data that can inform WFPD Committee projects.

Thank you for submitting your response by clicking here.