The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) presented a proposal for a new contract to the University of Iowa Health Care (UIHC) that will be negotiated with the Iowa Board of Regents. After bargaining, the two-year contract will be voted on by over 3,000 SEIU members at UIHC, the largest union group in Iowa City.
Jim Jacobsen, Chief Legal Counsel for SEIU Local 199, predicted that the biggest fight the new proposal will face is in a new section about productivity pay. The union has pushed for monitored staffing levels in the past but the hospital has been resistant to changes in how they staff various departments.
A nurse in the emergency room, Brian Covell, said he felt that in intensive care units, a nurse should have no more than two patients and often just one is ideal for optimal patient care.
Maintaining proper nurse to patient ratios is an obvious benefit to the patient, but it can also save money for the hospital.
SEIU president Cathy Glasson, a registered nurse herself, said that costs are reduced for hospital because patients can leave the hospital sooner and there are fewer infections.
“It’s not just more nurses, it’s about a higher quality of care and improved healthcare at UIHC,” she said.
The proposal will be reviewed by the Board of Regents and hospital representatives and a counter offer will be presented on Nov. 21.
A contract must be approved and in place by mid-March 2015, and Glasson predicted that negotiations would be completed by January, barring the need for arbitration.
Glasson said that SEIU is not a nurse’s union, although most of the members at UIHC are nurses. “We’re a licensed health care workers union” that includes respiratory therapists, lab scientists, dietitians, social workers and pharmacists, he said.
SEIU Healthcare is the healthcare arm of SEIU and the largest healthcare union in North America with more than 1.1 million members. SEIU has another million members working in property and public services, including cleaning and janitorial workers, security officers, public school employees, bus drivers and child care providers.
Find out more about the local SEIU healthcare chapter.
