Great news! We have settled our Unfair Labor Practice charge with OHSU and have won the following for residents who qualify for the settlement:
- A pool of $40,000.00 for those with proof of scheduled shifts that were cancelled due to the unilateral decision to modify operations in regard to external moonlighting for residents;
- A pool of $10,000.00 for residents whose education and book funds were retracted;
- The immediate activation of our contract provision that House Officers are allowed reimbursement of no less than $500.00 of professional development and educational funds for the 2020-2021 academic year;
- A Plan for the Future - We want to ensure that these provisions will not be unilaterally discontinued in the future. We believe we are close to reaching agreement on external moonlighting in our union contract and have already won minimum education funds for all represented house officers.
We were attempting to reach a settlement that took into account potential/presumptive lost shifts and also reimbursed the cost of the additional licensure. Unfortunately, OHSU does not want to reimburse licensure (since that’s a hot issue in bargaining for both parties) and was not willing to settle any funds without previous proof of scheduled/worked/cancelled shifts.
In the interest of timely settlement, and because we do not want to put the question of the reasonableness of COVID safety precautions before a labor arbitrator during the pandemic, we feel this is a fair settlement that gives some amount back to residents who lost expected funds due to the modified operations policy.
We are still scheduling our upcoming contract mediation dates and will keep you posted as we progress. If you have not yet, please sign our petition and share with your friends, family, and colleagues. When we advocate, we win!
In solidarity,
your HOU Bargaining Team
