CWA-PIW Bargaining Report 12

The Union and PIW met again this month on Wednesday, May 31st and Thursday, June 1, 2017.  On Wednesday the two sides reached another tentative agreement.  To date, we have reached agreements on a total of 6 contract language proposals.  While there is much more to do, this was a positive start to this round of bargaining.

The Union submitted their counter-proposal to the Hospital on Article 26, Arbitration and engaged in a lengthy discussion about a number of other proposals.  Part of these discussions included returning the Psych Specialist title into the bargaining unit.

Our bargaining session on Thursday, June 1, 2017, kicked off with the Union raising safety concerns and the growing number of employee incidents involving patient outbursts.  We had a long and spirited session but your Union is adamant in defending your right to have a safe work environment. As a result of these conversations with PIW, your bargaining team wants you to be clear that you have the right to:

• File assault charges against a patient if you are attacked.
• If you are threatened, you have the right to walk away to diffuse an escalating situation and seek help form others on the floor or with management.
• Keep considerable distance between you and an aggressive patient.
• Use a lower tone of voice when a patient is verbally abusive towards you and do not engage by returning verbal insults.
• You have the right and should go to management when you feel unsafe among aggressive patients in your care prior to an outburst occurring.

Always remember, your safety is your first responsibility and we urge you to take this responsibility seriously. We are scheduled to meet with the Company again on July 7, 2017. We ask that you continue with your mobilization efforts in the workplace and continue to stick together. We will see this through.

We need you to “Stand Up & Fight Back”