Mediation Update for 11/18/2025
With both teams effectively giving the other the entire contract last week as part of the impasse process, it made this Tuesday’s mediation unusual. While we worked on what we had, it ended up being OHSU’s day to pass us a lot of language.
They came to the table ready to clear everything they could so that our next planned mediation session (December 2nd) will be productive. Thanks to the hard work of our membership to make our successful strike vote happen, OHSU seems to be ready to wrap this up.
Our team has not yet gone through these together, so we are simply summarizing and giving brief descriptions for the language that was passed. Our official responses will be put together over the next two weeks.
First is a list of things we had agreed to, but not formally marked as tentative agreements (TA’s) because they were part of the larger economic package. It is likely that all or the vast majority of these are going to be TA’s, but they will not be formalized until our team has the chance to go through the language in detail.
Items Peeled Off of Final Offer:
5.23 Preceptor: Agreed to updated definition.
Language that will be current contract language (CCL) until Step and Grade goes into effect: Both teams agree the following will be CCL until we move into our new anniversary raise system in 2027. There may still be disagreement on what continues after that, so we’ll be going through these very carefully.
8.5.3 Merit-Based Adjustments
8.5.3 Promotion
8.7.1 Upward Reclassification
8.X Service Recognition Award: Both teams recognize this has been withdrawn.
9.2 Call-Back: Agreed to last pass.
10.2.1 Supplemental Call: We had actually proposed dropping this language to push all available funds towards our across the board wage increases, but management offered to keep it and TA it separately.
10.2.2 Supplemental Call Plus: Both teams recognize this has been withdrawn.
Work from Home While on Call: New language states, “If this work from home is one (1) hour or longer and results in less than ten (10) hours off between shifts the employee may be eligible for double back (See Section 7.7 Double back). Work under this section is subject to Section 9.2.1.a.”
10.5 Lead Work: Management has formally agreed to lead work being assigned in 2 instead of 4 hour increments and the other enhancements made over the course of negotiations.
10.6 Bilingual Differential: Current contract language.
10.11 Weekend Differential: Current contract language.
10.13 Float Pool Differential: Current contract language.
10.13.1 Float Differential: Both teams recognize this new language has been withdrawn.
10.14 Additional Need Incentive. Tentatively agreed to everything but the rate. Management tweaked some language they had proposed to be sure that people are complying with their department call-out rules when using well-being leave. With the changes, the language about procedure can likely be TA’d while we continue to negotiate rates.
10.15 Trainer Pay: Both teams recognize this has been withdrawn.
12.5 Accrual Limit: Current contract language.
12.6 Cashout of Accrued Time (including subsections): Current contract language.
14.1.8 Paid Bereavement Leave: Agreed to TA increase from 20 to 24 hours outside of economic package.
15.1.2 Relief Employees: Agreed to TA update to language that ensures access to insurance benefits based on hours worked.
15.2.3 Maximum annual contribution increase: They have added this back in, but we will have to discuss this as a team. The issues here are with how OHSU has used this to pressure the Employee Benefits Council to cut programs and costs in the past.
15.2.5 Employer premium reduction: Current contract language.
16 Retirement: Agreed to our proposal to codify existing UPP benefits in our contract with small tweaks based on feedback from OHSU’s tax experts to make sure it is compliant with IRS requirements. This is a huge win and will set up future bargaining teams to be able to improve this benefit.
28.4 Labor Management Committee Funding and MOU X Support for Labor Management Committees: Agreed to continuing to fund and expand based on annual across the board wage increases for the employees.
MOU 8 Hardship Fund: Agreed to increasing from $200,000 to $250,000.
MOU 13 OHSU/AFSCME Workplace Mental Health Support: We had agreed to expanding the program by 1 social worker and 1 additional administrative staff member, but OHSU reached out to the team running this program and agreed to giving us our initial ask of 2 additional social workers instead.
Scheduling Package:
7.5 Availability of Additional Work: We are still discussing how to address when an employee has taken time off and then wants to either cancel that time off or otherwise end up with both time off and an ANI or overtime shift. We discussed with management how we don’t feel that their version of this language is in their best interest because it discourages anyone from possibly cancelling time off they may not have a need for (many of us have to schedule so far in advance that we’ll grab random days “just in case”).
Temporary Worker Package:
19.11.1 Order of curtailment/cancellation: OHSU still insists that they need to be able to keep a provision that allows them to curtail temporary workers/travelers “as permitted under their contract.” We had a long discussion in our sidebar about their perceived limitations and what we saw as the reality of how this tends to work. In our team’s experience, traveler contracts typically allow 3 curtailments/cancellations with no penalty, which would take a long time to get through in a department with a group of travelers that they’re rotating through. We also discussed a willingness to work with them to soften limitations during emergencies. For instance, during the height of COVID the agencies that placed respiratory therapist travelers were able to negotiate much more aggressively and we would be willing to discuss temporary changes in that type of situation. This is likely to be a sticking point until right up until we have a full contract TA’d.
Layoff Package:
Management continues to reject our recall language.
Minor tweaks to placement of language as both teams have moved some things for clarity. We’re still finding the best placement for some of this language to make it clear what is being requested and at what step.
19.1 Initial Selection and Notice of Layoff: OHSU is holding at 30 days for documentation of special skills that would allow someone to be skipped during a layoff.
There was discussion about what meetings union reps could attend as management was unclear of our intention. They now better understand that we want members to have support during any meetings where they’re able to ask questions about their layoff rights or options and management agrees in concept. We’ll make sure the language matches intention.
19.1.2 Temporary Workers: Still discussing limitations based on the individual contracts that we feel should not supercede our collective bargaining agreement.
19.4 Relief Positions: This is new language that first offers a relief employee who would be laid off and is not the lowest seniority employee, the lowest seniority FTE position in the department before moving forward with any other action. The intent is to avoid accidentally laying off 2 employees because existing language would have them lay off the least senior person, then offer the relief employee that position. If they don’t want to move to an FTE position, then 2 employees have been displaced. We’re still working with management on this because while we agree in concept, previous versions have read as if they could unfairly target relief positions for layoff.
19.5.2 Vacancy outside of work unit: Agreed to our language.
19.5.3 Displacement of least senior employee in same classification and 19.5.4 Displacement of least senior employee outside of the same classification: Management pushed back on removing “within the same EOU (executive organizational unit)” in these articles despite agreeing to remove it from 19.5.2 because they don’t want directors or similar level management to decide whether to eliminate a position solely based on whether it will displace one of their own employees or not. A compelling case was made that currently, they can and often will only go forward with a layoff if the person who will be bumped isn’t someone under their EOU. We’ll be discussing this as a group and deciding how to respond.
19.6.1 Paid administrative leave: Holding at current contract language that allows them to place those waiting for their new position to open into temporary roles “at the Employer’s discretion.”. We had a good discussion about why and will respond once we’ve discussed this as a team.
5.24 Preferential Hire List (PHL): Management heard our concerns and updated language about when a person can apply using the PHL for a position. This version states, “and the interview process has not been completed.” This should help better define when a person should bother applying and when management needs to stop and make the offer to the PHL applicant.
Well and minimally qualified definitions: Management is holding on including “well-qualified” when defining applicants who will be chosen in order of seniority. It is language that has been used elsewhere in the contract, but wasn’t previously defined. They’ve provided a definition and gave us examples of how this language not being well-defined in the past has led to inequities. They believe this will be a net positive for both our members and hiring managers
Remote Work Package:
6.15.7 Return to OHSU Work Site: Management is holding on the number of days between notification and when someone returns to a site. They have a need for this to align with the statutory 90 day window for workplace changes under ORS 243.698 that we have previously had to bargain individual changes within. We did discuss adding language that would open this up to larger periods upon mutual agreement and will go into more detail once we’ve formulated a response.
Upon returning to a worksite, it is difficult for them to guarantee it will be “dedicated and secure.” We may narrow this definition to address our specific concerns when we respond.
MOU X Remote Work Transition: Management is holding on using the Remote Work Position Assessment to define this process. To be honest, we just don’t think the tool is a particularly helpful one. They are willing to take feedback on what we feel it is lacking, but large scale updates could be difficult because it is what is used to assess all of OHSU’s remote workforce so it needs to have a certain amount of flexibility.
Protected Leave Package: We are getting closer to an agreement on language that will protect time away when someone is out using any type of accrual or due to an OHSU policy, Management wants to rely on the accommodation process for employees who don’t yet qualify for FMLA. We have not reviewed the key differences here as a team yet and will go into more detail in our response.
Appendix J Workplace harassment, discrimination, and violence: Overall, this language is getting closer, but management is still pushing back in a few areas:
Definition of harassment,
OCIC investigations not exceeding 60 days (we had proposed 30 days)
Alternative work arrangements or other accommodations for anyone whose investigation is taking longer than the time period defined above.
Notification if OHSU has been contacted by a government agency regarding the immigration status of an employee. We had a good discussion here of possible alternatives to the language to avoid unwanted scrutiny from outside agitators while still providing a way for us to work together to help anyone impacted.
Use of paid administrative leave as a best practice when someone has been the target of harassment, discrimination or violence.
Protections for employees who have requested a workplace accommodation. If this process was quick or efficient, it would be less of a concern.
Specifics of how we can coordinate with OHSU when our members are the targets of FOIA or other requests for information. There are legal concerns with this language, but both parties want to be sure that we’re offering any protections we can. Management is open to including a reference to how the employee’s union may be able to offer assistance whenever a notice is sent.
Non-Packaged Proposals:
5.X Lead Work: Agreed to language that will make it clearer that one does not have to complete all tasks on the list to be paid for doing lead work. We will review and agree or make recommendations.
MOU X Automated Monitoring Implementation: OHSU responded with their amended version of this proposal after getting input from their stakeholders. We haven’t reviewed this yet but will have more information when we agree or respond.
Overall, what we saw yesterday was a management team who wanted to clear the deck and get to a tentative agreement as quickly as possible. Whether OHSU has loosened the purse strings enough for that to happen remains to be seen.
While we won’t be meeting with OHSU next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday, our bargaining team will continue setting the stage so that we can get as close to either a tentative agreement or a strike date as possible when we meet again on December 2nd.
Our power comes from our solidarity. We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday with their loved ones and that those of us that still have to work can still find ways to celebrate.