Union urges improved overtime policy for UIHC employees

IOWA CITY - Officials with a union representing thousands of University of Iowa Health Care employees say 'a lot” of their members work off-the-clock, and they're demanding changes in how management handles overtime pay.

'This is going to be an issue that we continue to press the employer on,” said Cathy Glasson, president of the Service Employees International Union Local 199, which covers about 3,000 UIHC professional and scientific employees, including nurses, lab scientists, dietitians, social workers and pharmacists.

Union officials have raised overtime as a key issue in negotiations with the Board of Regents for a new 2015-2017 contract. They want a clear and uniform overtime policy to replace the existing one, which Glasson said exempts some workers from being compensated for putting in extra time and forces them to work off the clock.

'People are working beyond their shifts,” she said. 'We know this has been going on.”

And the union recently began gathering evidence, with contract negotiations heating up behind the scenes.

A letter sent Dec. 12 asked members to complete an online survey about how much overtime they work and whether they get paid for it. About 20 percent of union members responded, and Glasson said results support the need for a policy revision.

'There is a lot of free work going on at the university hospitals, and that's money for the employer,” Glasson said. 'Millions of dollars is the estimate of what the university is saving on the backs of the workers.”

In the letter, union representative Zach Peterson said management so far appears unwilling to create a clear and uniform overtime policy. In fact, according to the letter, the Board of Regents' negotiating team has said they believe any time employees spend working off the clock is made up for in on-the-clock breaks spent 'getting coffee, reading the newspaper and eating doughnuts.”

'I wish I was making up that last part,” Peterson wrote in the letter. 'I think responses like this speak volumes about the level of respect they have for their staff.”

UIHC officials directed questions on the issue to the Board of Regents Office, and the board office declined to comment.

Glasson called the notion that workers are wasting time on the job 'disrespectful.”

'That comment shows you how out-of-touch the regent administrators are with what goes on in that hospital,” Glasson said. 'It's not a cake walk.”

When each side publicly presented their initial proposals for the new contract in November, the union also requested a 4.75 percent raise for returning employees in each of the contract's years, compensation for unused vacation time, and improved nurse-to-patient rations via 'productivity pay.”

According to the proposal, eligible employees would receive $100 in 'productivity pay” for each four-hour period during which the employee-to-patient ratio is above a specified level.

'Under those circumstances, those employees should receive supplemental pay to compensate them for their increased duties,” according to the union's proposal.

The Board of Regents countered with a proposal that offered no salary raise and did not address the union's other requests.

Peterson, in the recent letter, urged union members to fill out the overtime survey, explaining it 'would be very helpful in negotiations.”

'The more responses we get, the more power it will have at the bargaining table,” according to the letter.

The survey asked 16 questions, including how many minutes employees work without being paid, whether they spend time 'getting settled” - like drinking coffee, talking, or reading the paper - and if they have worked overtime and not requested compensation.

The letter also asked for members willing to provide testimony 'on a number of issues,” including overtime, short staffing, the cancellation of extra shifts, and the aftermath of abusive or violent patients.

Testifying employees could be asked to answer questions via email, on camera, or in person, according to the letter.

'Without this kind of testimony, we can only ask nicely for changes based on anecdotes and best guesses,” Peterson wrote in the letter. 'With a large number of coming forward, we can change the power dynamic at the negotiating table.”

Glasson said union representatives are hoping to make some overtime inroads during this round of negotiations. But, she said, if they don't, they aren't giving up the cause. They will continue to pursue it via grievance procedures or a 'day of action,” Glasson said.

'We are going to continue to press the issue,” she said, 'because it's important.”