by Tom Price
Warehouse Local 6 workers at San Leandro Hospital bargained hard and long and on Dec. 22 they approved a new, three-year contract. The agreement provides hefty raises and improves benefits. But getting there took some patient negotiating.
Chief Steward Shon Young, Asst. Chief Steward Roxann Lewis and Business Agent Donal Mahon began bargaining with the hospital Oct. 19. The 18 workers in Local 6’s Technical, Office and Professional (TOPs) Division do x-ray and ultra sound imaging, CAT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and nuclear medicine.
"We started a long way apart, at the beginning it looked like we would never get together," Mahon said. "When I looked at this contract the first thing that jumped out at me was the no-strike, no-lockout clause that said that no union official could discuss not crossing another union’s picket line with a member. We got that out. We told them on the first day it had to go."
Local 6 studied the wages of other skilled workers at the hospital and concluded their wage demands were in keeping with what nurses and other tech workers got.
"A lot of our x-ray techs work in different hospitals and know the people there, so we have a lot of contracts to compare with, including the nurses at San Leandro," Mahon said. "We shared that information with the employers and they saw our position wasn’t unreasonable."
Mahon also called on the resources of the ILWU.
"I was in touch with Local 142’s BA Brian Tanaka, via e-mail, and we exchanged ideas on work in the medical tech field," Mahon said. Tanaka represents, among others, 640 health care workers on Oahu, Hawaii.
Bargaining continued until 7:15 p.m. Dec. 20 when the employers and union came to agreement. The new contract will include a nine percent wage increase on Jan. 1, 2006, and ultrasound and senior radiological techs will get another four percent increase July 1, 2006. In January 2007 workers get a four percent across-the-board increase. In December 2007 the contract will reopen for discussions on wage increases.
"The hospital was sold from Triad to Sutter a few years ago and when they switched employee healthcare plans, some things were locked up," Mahon said. "In this contract we regained ‘well baby care’ up until the child’s third birthday, mammograms and pap smears once a year, and immunizations."
The hospital has been offering its non-union employees $25,000 retirement health savings accounts, and Local 6 got that in its contract. They also improved the language on educational benefits and got up to $1,200 for educational fees. Pension contributions remain at two percent of wages in an employer-paid, defined benefit plan.
