After months of bargaining, workers at PACS have reached a tentative agreement (TA) and now it’s time to vote and make it official!

PACS workers stayed united in their fight for a strong contract, showing up in purple and signing pledge cards even as the company moved slowly on our proposals.

Voting will be held November 10 – November 14. Members will receive an email with a link to vote and non-members will get a link to become a member and then will get a link to vote

Below are some highlights from the TA:

• Article 13 – Hiring Rates and Compensation
  • Critical shift will be triggered after 2 or more open shifts within 6 hours of a particular shift and will be paid at the rate of $7.00
  • Increased licensed CNA shift differentials
  • All other bargaining unit employees shift differentials remain the same.
  • Retro pay to October 1st with a wage increase of $0.60 and a step increase of $0.50
• Article 16 – Paid Vacation and Sick Leave
  • Cap at 50 hours accrued for sick leave only in addition to frontloaded leave — 24 hours to full-time employees and 16 hours to part-time employees.
• Article 17 – Other Leaves
  • Bereavement expanded definition of family.
• Article 18 – Health Insurance
  • Locked our 35/70/105 for EE premiums
• Article 20 – Employee Rights and Just Cause Corrective Action
  • Gives management the option for place employees on paid admin leave.
  • Limits leave to 7 days, or if it needs to be longer a letter explaining the reasons needs to be given
• Article 25 – Safety & Training
  • The employer will provide enough time to complete training.
  • Process for addressing aggressive residents.
  • Protection from discipline for raising safety issues with residents
• Article 29 – Staffing
  • Process to adjust assignments of workload.
  • CMA not given residents with the purpose of meeting state ratios
• Article 31 – Duration
  • 3-year contract
• Cameras
  • The employer will notify the union of the intent to install cameras in any of the facilities, signage should be posted of camera use. Cameras will not be placed in employee break areas, controls or storage areas, and more.
  • No productivity monitoring. No audio recording and will not be released outside PACS except by subpoena.

The new wage scale:

Workers at or over the top step of the previous scale will receive a $1.10 raise in addition to the COLA.

You can view the full TA with redlined changes by going here.