New Alameda County Medical Center, Service Employees International Union Local 1021 Agreements Underscore Common Mission on Goals

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC) (www.acmedctr.org), a nationally recognized public healthcare system, announced it has reached labor agreements with its 839 nurses and 1,517 general employees who work at ACMC's six facilities and who are represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021.

ACMC and SEIU negotiated separate contacts — one for nurses and one for general unit employees who work in jobs such as pharmacists, clinical lab scientists, housekeeping, food service, nursing assistants and various types of technicians. The organizations also jointly resolved a number of issues common to both employee groups.

Both contracts expire on March 31, 2014. Ninety-eight percent of ACMC's employees voted in favor of their contracts earlier in the month. ACMC and SEIU Local 1021 jointly said the new contracts balance responsibilities to patients, employees and the community, stating:

"These contracts preserve ACMC's ability to continue to provide high quality care and service as it moves toward full implementation of national healthcare reform. They also provide SEIU members who work at ACMC with competitive wages and new benefits that meet or exceed current standards in the public healthcare category."

Highlights common to both contracts include:

Wages: Up to a 9 percent wage increase over the life of the contracts.

Retirement: ACMC will establish a defined contribution plan for part-time employees with up to a 3 percent matching contribution.

Hiring: Revise the hiring process to provide priority consideration to current ACMC employees.

Training: Establish system-wide and Departmental Patient Care Committees to address critical issues of shared concern. Initial costs for joint training will be shared by ACMC and SEIU.

Highlights of nurses' contract include:

Wages: Implementation of a single pay schedule for all staff RNs and charge nurses.

Rewards: Established parameters for a clinical ladder to go into effect at the beginning of the next fiscal year to reward highly skilled and educated nurses.

General unit highlights include:

Wages: Established categories for covered positions in order to facilitate assessment of market salary rates – degreed and licensed; licensed technical, service and maintenance, and entry-level positions for the purpose of determining appropriate salary levels.

Education: Agreement by ACMC to partner with the SEIU Education Fund to provide educational resources to General Unit employees that will enable them to upgrade their skills in order to meet the requirements of evolving positions.

Contracting: New language that allows contracting with outside professionals for a specific period when expanding services to patients.

The two sides agreed that completing negotiations and ratifying the contracts in time for the year-end holidays was like a gift that will accelerate the continuing transformation of ACMC into a provider and employer of choice and to the creation of a culture that emphasizes collaboration, problem-solving and excellence in service and care.

"Our members who work at ACMC recognize that we share a common mission with management; namely, to serve the residents of the County of Alameda and the community of Oakland," said Ruby Sloan, SEIU Local 1021 shop steward and Negotiating Committee member. "Creating good jobs and raising patient care standards at ACMC are our top priorities. We believe these contracts further those objectives," added Sloan, who is a Mental Health Specialist II at ACMC's John George Psychiatric Pavilion and 21-year employee of ACMC.

"We are thankful to our SEIU Local 1021 partners for their leadership and for collaborating with us for the benefit of the patients and families we all serve," said Jeanette Louden-Corbett, chief human resources officer for ACMC. "These new contracts give us flexibility and appropriate balance of the interests of all the groups involved as we move toward full implementation of healthcare reform in 2014."

In coming weeks, management and local SEIU leaders at ACMC will engage in joint training on the contract details and protocols to gain a deeper understanding of the agreement in order to move forward on a common platform.

About Alameda County Medical Center

Alameda County Medical Center (ACMC) is a nationally recognized public healthcare system with more than 2,800 employees and 475 accredited beds. It serves the residents of the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area through six facilities including Highland Hospital in Oakland. ACMC provides numerous services including family and women's health services, acute care, trauma care and more. The system also includes John George Psychiatric Pavilion for acute psychiatric care; Fairmont Hospital which provides acute occupational therapy and rehabilitation; and three community-based wellness centers in Oakland, Hayward  and Newark, California. ACMC is organized as a Public Hospital Authority and is governed by a Board of Trustees that is appointed by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors.

ACMC is one of the premier public hospitals in the nation. Its trauma expertise is recognized across the United States and it is a teaching hospital, training tomorrow's surgeons who come from prominent Bay Area medical schools to complete their training. ACMC is ranked #1 in financial performance among public hospitals in the State of California. It is accredited for operations performance and quality of service and care by the Joint Commission, the body that accredits U.S. hospitals. The Joint Commission recognized ACMC for high performance in key quality measures where ACMC outperformed other health care providers within its service areas.

About SEIU 1021

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1021 represents 55,000 public service employees in healthcare, cities, counties, special districts, private non-profits, superior courts and schools across Northern California.

SEIU is the fastest-growing union in North America. It is focused on uniting workers in three sectors to improve their lives and the services they provide. It is the largest healthcare union in the nation with more than 1.1 million members including nurses, LPNs, doctors, lab technicians, nursing home workers and home care workers. It is also the nation's largest property services union and the second largest public services union.

SOURCE Alameda County Medical Center