On Monday, August 4th, the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD) and LA County officials met for the third time to negotiate over the salaries of LA County doctors who are paid in part through University stipends. Article 7, Section 2, Subsection “A”, of our MOU allowed UAPD to re-open negotiations in the event that the County and the Universities were unable to quickly reach agreement on the future of the stipend program; to date, the County-University negotiations remain open. UAPD opened its negotiations with the County by proposing to give physicians who receive stipends three options from which to choose. Option one is to stay at the status quo and wait out the County’s talks with UCLA and USC. Option two is to roll over 50% of the stipend amount into the pensionable base pay immediately and add in the balance upon settlement of the issue. And option three is to roll over the entire amount of the stipend into the pensionable base salary immediately, and also receive the next step increase under the new pay plan of the new MOU.
The County rejected our three-part proposal outright and responded with a “no movement” proposal. The UAPD countered with a proposal for retroactivity on any agreement, so regardless of when the County settles with the two Universities, doctors will receive full pay reaching back to July 1, 2008. We will hear the county’s response to this proposal on August 18th, the day of our next bargaining session.