Management remained firm on demanding $122 million in contract concessions at today’s bargaining session.
Our team reiterated its offer of $36 million in sacrifices (which includes the elimination of flex dollars and a mirroring of FRS pension changes for all employees) as long as the money is guaranteed to go toward creating a sustainable Jackson and not wasted on mismanagement.
Today, the bargaining teams focused on improving language regarding layoffs, floating and cross training. In response to previous negotiations, management came to the table today with improved language on some of their proposals, withdrawing parts that we had previously found objectionable.
One notable highlight of today’s session was management withdrawing their proposal to take away the guaranteed workweek. We are still adamant that they withdraw the proposal to move all RNs to the 3-3 schedule, but they have not yet agreed to that. We will continue to present evidence that a switch like that would increase overtime costs and lead to massive understaffing on units.
Bargaining will resume on Thursday, Oct. 27 at 1pm in DTC 259. Additional bargaining sessions are set for Nov. 4 and Nov. 23.