UAPD Board Member and Department of Social Services (DSS) Medical Consultant (MC) Robert Bitonte, MD, convened the first ever statewide meeting of DSS doctors. Twenty-eight members representing all branch offices in the State actively participated discussing the issues of greatest concern to MCs.
Those concerns include productivity requirements, working conditions, the physical exam, and the fact that UAPD is activating the Productivity Criteria Committee, as per the collective bargaining agreement between UAPD and the State of California.
UAPD’s position is that if there’s no gross change in productivity and there’s ANY chance of contracting COVID in ANY of the DSS office buildings, there is no reason to make MCs return to on site desk work. Many MCs are older and it would put MCs unnecessarily at serious risk. Dr Bitonte explained that it is imperative to share matters of concern with UAPD staff representatives. Most, if not all, DSS branch offices have UAPD Stewards who are the conduit between colleagues and Union staff and vice versa. The Union is as strong as its membership is actively involved.
All participants expressed interest in regularly scheduled DSS MC Statewide meetings, and agreed that 5 pm worked well. The quarterly schedule for 2021 Statewide DSS-MC meetings is as follows:
Wednesday, May 19, 2021, at 5:00 pm
Wednesday, August 18th, at 5:00 pm
Wednesday, November 17th, at 5:00 pm
Invitations with links to the meetings will be emailed out before each date. In the meantime, all UAPD MCs are encouraged to communicate directly any and all local issues and concerns to the UAPD Staff Representative assigned to MC’s branch. Find your labor rep here.