Ratification of Agreement with SPNN/UNAC
Sharp HealthCare and the Sharp Professional Nurses Network/United Nurses Associations of California (SPNN/UNAC) have ratified the terms for a new three year contract.
The first benefit item is in regards to retiree medical benefits. Sharp employees retiring after the age of 55, and with 20 or more benefit-eligible years at Sharp, are eligible for these retiree medical benefits. Once retired, and up until they are eligible for Medicare, these employees may purchase medical coverage for themselves and their dependents in a basic HMO medical plan through Sharp, which would be at special group rates.
Yes, I still need to look into the Sharp$aver Retirement Plan for myself. Secondly, for eligible RNs via the new contract, there’s an improved Sharp$aver Retirement Plan. With the Sharp$aver Retirement Plan, Sharp matches money put into the account. (I haven’t yet read up on the details.) As per the newly ratified contract, all employees with Sharp more than 20 years and contributing 6% into the Sharp$aver Retirement Plan will see an increase from 4.5% to 5% on January 1st, 2008. On January 1, 2009 it will increase to 5.5%, and then to 6% on January 1, 2010.
Further, on-call pay increases to $6/hour for up to 32 hours per pay period, and $6.75/hour for excess hours over the 32, effective the first payroll period following the ratification.
For full-time and part-time RNs, wage increases begin at 3% after ratification, then increase another 13% though the end of the contract, on October 1st, 2009. For Per Diem RNs, I believe it also totals at 16%, at three 4% increases (unless I’m misreading the terms).
To add to this, Sharp and the Union “will develop a new committee, a Nursing Review Committee (NRC), to address staffing ratio and patient classification issues if they are not resolved at RNAC”.
As for the final item, nurses at Sharp are still free to choose whether or not to pay Union dues. Union members may withdraw their union membership and avoid paying dues if they resign before August 18, 2007.
Here are a couple of paragraphs from within the Union Tribune article:
Nurses also were able to keep in place a pay structure that prevents new nurses from earning higher wages than more veteran workers, a concern directly tied to the growing shortage of nurses.
Union negotiators failed in a push to make Sharp hospitals “closed shops,” which would have required all of the nonprofit company’s 3,400 nurses to join the union and pay annual dues. About 1,700 of the nurses belong to the union, according to union officials.