Report for Meeting of May 21, 2010
OCEA Labor Relations Manager Bo Gutierrez

The May edition of the Health Care Agency Labor Management Committee was yet another exciting and productive meeting between labor and management.

We said goodbye to our timekeeper, Mike Zippwald, who leaves the LMC after three years of wonderful service. OCEA presented Mike with a certificate thanking him for his service. We will miss you, Mike!

While we said goodbye to one of our longtime members, the LMC also welcomed three new members to the team: Sherie King from Adult Mental Health Services, Maria Tenorio from PACT, and Gloria Trejo, also from Adult Mental Health Services. These three new members are fired-up and ready to represent their divisions on the LMC. Welcome aboard!

At the LMC meeting, we discussed issues such as a comprehensive policy on smoking outside the workplace, the uses of catastrophic leave, and some cell-phone reimbursement questions that have come from the field. If you have any workplace issues, please submit them through the HCA Intranet, or contact OCEA directly.

Also fresh on everyone’s mind was the state budget. As all of you know, a few weeks ago the Governor unveiled his budget proposal that has extreme cuts to many HCA programs. These proposed cuts have both labor and management equally concerned. Both OCEA and HCA management expressed a commitment to continue to work together to find every available alternative to layoffs.

The HCA LMC meets again in June. Please stay tuned for more updates.

The EPRP “roadshows” have been going well. To date, three have been conducted for service chiefs and three for line staff. Additional presentations are being scheduled. Committee members who have attended a presentation reported that the feedback from staff has been positive, and that employees had not realized there were two types of benefits, not just one. Training received applications for the funds from many people, and anyone who minimally met the qualifications was approved. It might be possible to modify the criteria in the future to allow for ongoing training reimbursement, rather than having a “date certain” requirement, to make the program more closely match the way people obtain their professional training. The PowerPoint presentation itself may be placed on the HCA Intranet, and an FAQ document may be distributed after more presentations have been conducted.

No feedback was received after the resources assessment survey results were distributed. The Committee discussed how HCA and this committee could best use its resources in the current budget crisis. The resources assessment work was initiated before Behavioral Health Services was impacted by large budget cuts going into the next two years.

One important issue raised in the survey involved training, and the committee discussed current issues with staff being transitioned into new functions due to budget cuts, and the lack of standardization in procedures. One example provided was Admissions/Referral criteria. The committee will create templates of each BHS division and develop matrices to try to indentify where there might be standardization opportunities. This process may also help identify where transitioning employees could be anticipated to need specific training.

An early report of anticipated BHS budget cuts and strategies being considered was provided.