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Committing to retain and recruit the best healthcare professionals in the market, Jackson Health System has reached tentative agreements with the labor unions that represent nearly 90 percent of its employees.
The agreements with Service Employees International Union Local 1991 and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1363 would phase out a 5 percent payroll deduction that employees have made since 2010 to help defray Jackson’s costs. The unions agreed there would be no further discussion of salary increases until after this budget year.
“This is a prime example of the great ideas that we discover when labor and management leaders come together in good faith around a common belief,” said Jackson President & Chief Executive Officer Carlos A. Migoya. “I’m privileged to work at an organization where employees of all backgrounds, all positions, and all disciplines believe in a shared vision.”
The tentative agreement – which requires approval from employees, as well as the Public Health Trust Board of Trustees and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners – would reduce the contribution from 5 percent to 2 percent effective January 1, 2014. The remaining 2 percent would be automatically eliminated at the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2014.
“The healthcare professionals are the backbone of quality care delivery at Jackson,” said SEIU Local 1991 President Martha Baker, RN, a veteran trauma ICU nurse whose organization represents more than 3,700 nurses, physicians and other healthcare professionals. “This is really the smartest thing this community can do to ensure that our public hospital retains its best professionals. This agreement lets us all get back to focusing on delivering the best quality care available.”
In addition, a separate agreement makes good on Jackson’s promise to share last year’s remarkably strong financial results with employees. In 2013, thanks in part to those employees’ remarkable professional commitment and financial sacrifice, Jackson earned a surplus of nearly $45 million and dramatically beat its ambitious budget. The tentative agreement makes good on that promise and would provide one-time gain-sharing payments to eligible Jackson employees. Unlike a salary increase, the gain-sharing program does not create new recurring expenses for Jackson’s taxpayer-owners. Moreover, the cost of this program was included in our calculation of the 2013 budget surplus and will not impact the bottom line of $44.7 million.
“During a lifetime in this community, I learned that Jackson’s employees were passionate about ensuring the future of this treasured institution,” Migoya said. “During more than 40 years as a business leader in the private sector, I learned that sharing the success with the people who helped make it is the smart and ethical way to grow.”
Moreover, Jackson and its unions agreed to continue working on innovative ways to improve bedside care, promote new programs, and model next-generation efficiencies.
“Our employees put so much passion, energy and love into their work at Jackson,” said AFSCME President Vivienne Dixon-Shim, whose group represents a diverse group of Jackson employees including nutrition staff, environmental professionals and maintenance workers. “These agreements let us keep our focus exactly where it belongs: on the patients and families who need us.”
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