The UAPD Negotiating Committee, which has been in continuous virtual contact since the events of last week and the reception of our layoff notices, met in person tonight. Stewards Derek Kerr (LHH), Jon Smith (Medical Examiners), Deb Brown (Primary Care) and Roger Wu (Psychiatry/Child Psychiatry) and UAPD Senior Representative Patricia Hernandez and UAPD Executive Director Al Groh reviewed the events of the few days.
In brief, as you must all know by now, most, but not all, of our members have received an abbreviated, 2 page layoff notice. The exceptions to that layoff notice fall into two categories;
1) members and units exempted from the layoffs because their divisions are noted as “emergency services” (e.g., the Medical Examiners (criminal prosecution) and the veterinarian (Animal Shelter)) and
2) some members have notified us that have received a more substantial 50-60 page layoff packet in addition to their 2 page notice.
The meaning of the differences between these two types of notices is unclear to the Committee at this time–and we will be searching for official clarification.
For several hours, we reviewed the facts known to us and discussed how to engage the City. For those coming late to this discussion, it is worth recapping that at least two arms of the City do not seem to be talking–giving us at once contradictory and rapidly changing information–thus making any conversation confusing and difficult to sort out.
We have, at this point, a commitment from the Department of Human Resources, Employee Relations Department to engage in direct and meaningful discussions about this confusing situation. We have formulated a series of important questions, not all of which we will openly discuss at this time, for those meetings–and we are completely clear about our need to comprehensively and aggressively advocate for our members and their patients during those meetings.
Our first round of discussions with the City should begin next week. We will keep you all informed as learn more–and as we engage the City in these talks.
Thank you for your support and attention.
UAPD Negotiating Committee