Educational Opportunities & Student Loan Forgiveness


Did you Know your Union Can help you Earn your degree?

This update is all about education. SHARE members are eligible to take advantage of the full range of Union Plus benefits, which include reduced-cost college degree programs, and more. The available education benefits seem to continually evolve, so if you haven’t seen a program that looked right for you before, it could be useful to scan over the offerings again.

Plus, you can use SHARE’s Tuition Reimbursement program to help cover costs! (See details below.) Don’t forget, too, that Community College is free for Massachusetts residents who don’t yet have a Bachelors degree.

How to Sign Up for Union Plus

To take advantage of any Union Plus Benefits, you’ll need to register with Union Plus. Note that “SHARE” is not listed as a registration option . . . our union is also identified as AFSCME Local 3900.

To sign up, you’ll need to select our parent union, “AFSCME, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees,” in the dropdown menu.

Upcoming Union-Plus Webinar:

Student Loan Advice

New student loan drop-in webinar

Do you have student loans? Join us on December 17th at 7 pm ET for an opportunity to speak with Savi’s student loan experts for free, to learn about student loan repayment and forgiveness options.

This session will be an open-ended format and you can join at any time during the hour to get answers directly from student loan experts. RSVP today to reserve your spot!


Tuition reimbursement

In our Contract agreement with the hospital, SHARE has negotiated that UMass Memorial will reimburse eligible expenses up to the allowable amount of $5,250 for full-time status employees or $2,625 for part-time status employees per calendar year.

The full stipulations of the Tuition Reimbursement policy can be found on page 36 of the SHARE-UMass Memorial Contract Agreement

Stay in the Know


So many SHARE members are lifelong learners, looking to grow and advance in their careers, and our union is continually working to develop more educational opportunities, including all of the above, as well as “earn-and-learn” apprenticeship programs within our own hospital. To stay on top of what’s available, keep your eyes on your email from SHARE, or review the SHARE blog posts tagged #Education

SHARE Updates: Happy Thanksgiving! UBT Updates, Corrections & More . . .

We hope you’re all getting ready for a wonderful Thanksgiving full of (union made) food, fun, and family. The SHARE organizing staff is grateful for countless things that SHARE members do every day to take care of people who come to our hospital for help. There are always SHARE members doing critical work, around the clock, every day, including holidays. We’re grateful for that, and continually grateful to be able to participate in sustaining and improving that important work.

And, this is too good not to share: in case you missed the scene outside of the ACC last week, check out this colorful view from the UBT huddle in the Orthopedics Clinic!

CT UBTs: Improvements All Around!

We apologize that, in our previous mailing, we made a “department identification error,” and mixed up two important projects that SHARE members have successfully implemented in the CT departments at UMass Memorial. Thank you to those SHARE members who highlighted the mistake!

At the recent visit from Catalysis leaders, the University CT department presented about their IV Room project, as described below, which has resulted in a 20% reduction in wait times for patients. You may recognize the project as the winner of UMass Memorial’s “2023 Innovators of the Year.”

UBT Co-Leads Julie Parker and Matt Geary (not pictured, Co-Lead Micah Levine.)

This poster from the UBT Fair describes their project and what it’s meant for patients and caregivers in the University CT department

In the previous post, we described a great success story from a different Unit Based Team, in which union members identified an opportunity to reduce the amount of barium that patients need to drink before imaging. That project was actually initiated by the Memorial campus CT department UBT, pictured below. They recently presented that project to the Labor Management Partnership Council, and at a UBT Peer Learning event. As you might guess from their presentation slide, they had a good time doing it . . .

Patients must drink the barium sulfate before a CT procedure in order for the Technologists to obtain images, but it tastes unpleasant and is uncomfortable for patients to ingest. SHARE Technologists came to recognize that improvements in imaging technology might reduce the amount of contrast solution needed, so they set up a project that tested the image quality when patients drank only one dose, rather than two. They discovered that cutting the dose in half still yields excellent results, and allows SHARE members to save the hospital over $35,000 annually system-wide. More importantly, the new process relieves patients that they don’t have to drink so much of it, and makes it easier and more efficient for SHARE members to help patients through their scans.

Memorial UBT Co-Leads Matt Geary, Katie Baglini, Gabe Alvarez

Memorial Campus CT UBT. Pictured here are: back row, l-r Elton Vathi,  Julie Cosenza, Nina DiPilato, Dan DiPilato, front row l-r: Amy Miller, Christian Guardado, Katie Baglini (not pictured: Co-Leads Gabe Alvarez & Matt Geary) 

2025 Dues Rates Announced

AFSCME, SHARE’s parent union, has announced dues rates increases for the upcoming year. The 2025 regular weekly dues rate for SHARE members will be $11.20. That is an increase of $0.42 per paycheck, or roughly one cent per hour. For members working 20 hours/week, the 2025 weekly rate will be $8.39.

WHY SHOULD I PAY DUES?

Dues are an investment that SHARE members make in themselves and their coworkers. Without a union, employees have very little leverage to make change, or even to hold onto what they have.

SHARE members want respect for the work that they do, fair treatment, opportunities for advancement, and good raises so that they can take care of themselves and their families. SHARE gives employees a voice in various ways:

  • In contract negotiations, we have a voice in our pay, benefits and work policies.

  • In union meetings and individual conversations, we have a voice in the direction and priorities of the union

  • Through the problem-solving process, we have a voice when individual problems/conflicts come up at work

  • In union elections, we have a voice in who our representatives will be

  • Through committees, Unit Based Teams, and ad-hoc negotiations, we have a voice in issues that face groups of SHARE members

When it comes down to dollars and cents, dues pay for themselves. SHARE has consistently negotiated raises each year since SHARE became a union in 1997. Those increases have resulted in notably better pay rates than non-union counterparts. Among other things, our hospital also continues to contribute to the Defined Benefit Pension plan of all SHARE members, as well as continuing to pay 85% of Health Insurance costs.

Working together through the union, SHARE members can continue to make progress in all these areas. And dues support the staff who support this work.

How Do Union Dues Compare to My Raise?

They’re not even close! When it comes to a monetary cost-benefit analysis, dues clearly pay themselves off. Consider how the math works . . .

  • The lowest raise that a SHARE member can get (at 40 hours) is $1.00 x 40. That’s a raise of $40 per week, before taxes.

  • SHARE Union Dues: in January, SHARE union dues will go up 42 cents per week.

  • The raise on your first hour worked more than pays for that increase.

  • $50.00 - $.0.42 = $49.58 increase per week (at least)

Am I Required to Pay Dues?

Because all employees working in the SHARE bargaining unit at UMass Memorial receive the benefits negotiated by our union, all employees are legally required to contribute through membership or through an equal paycheck deduction authorized by a “Fair Share” card.

If you have questions or would like to sign a Fair Share card, please call the SHARE office and leave a message at 508-929-4020 or email share.comment@theshareunion.org.

Only members can run for union leadership positions, vote in union elections, and participate in benefits programs such as UnionPlus.

HOW ARE DUES CALCULATED?

Any annual increase is calculated by the AFSCME International office based on the average percent increase of AFSCME members’ pay rates across the country in the previous year.

WHERE DO MY DUES GO?

The short answer is that dues mostly pays for SHARE staff.

The longer answer is that SHARE members at UMass Memorial pool their dues money with members of three other unions locals: SHARE at UMass Chan Medical School, HUCTW at Harvard University, and USW at Cambridge Health Alliance. The four union locals together are called the New England Organizing Project (NEOP). All their dues together pay for the union staff for all the locals, union offices, phones and utilities, mailings, etc. About 75% of the budget is for staff.

The staff spend their time gathering information and opinions from members, sharing information with members, developing and supporting SHARE Reps, helping members with questions or problems, negotiating contracts, organizing events, researching issues, writing blog posts, etc., all on behalf of SHARE members.

MORE INFORMATION

If you would like to know more, please talk to a SHARE Rep, email share.comment@theshareunion.org, or call 508-929-4020. You can also learn more about what our union does, and the benefits of union membership, by exploring www.sharehospitalunion.org.

SHARE Updates: New SHARE Union at CHA, 2025 Dues Increase, and UBT Highlights

New SHARE Union at Cambridge Health Alliance

Physician Associates, Attending Physicians, and Psychologists have decided to form a new union at Cambridge Health Alliance — SHARE CHA!

The clinicians, who work at sites in eastern Massachusetts cities and towns including Cambridge, Somerville, Malden, and Everett, are creating their union to participate directly in the decisions that affect them at work. They’ve chosen to affiliate with our own union, SHARE, because they value our approaches, including forming structures such as Unit Based Teams, which puts SHARE members’ expertise in decision-making roles, and our strategies, such as joint-lobbying, in which our union works alongside hospital leaders, advocating directly to legislators to make funding and districting choices that keep things fair for safety net hospitals like ours.

“The bigger goal is really based on reshaping the health care system so that those who are providing direct care to patients can bring their experience and expertise to the table,” said SHARE Organizer Andrea Caceres in an interview with the Boston Globe.

SHARE-CHA will be its own new union local, but will continue to work closely with our unions at UMass Memorial Hospital and UMass Chan Medical School to develop ideas for improving patient care and the ways that we give it.

2025 Dues Rates Announced

Dues are an investment that union members make in themselves and their co-workers. AFSCME, SHARE’s parent union, has announced dues rates increases for the upcoming year.

The 2025 regular weekly dues rate for SHARE members will be $11.20. That is an increase of 42 cents per paycheck, or roughly one cent per hour. For members working 20 hours/week, the 2025 weekly rate will be $8.39. The new rates will be reflected in the first paycheck in January.

To learn more about dues — including how dues amounts are determined, what the money pays for, and how your investment pays off directly for you — read more here.

SHARE UBTs Get International Attention

On Halloween this year, SHARE Unit Based Teams from the Oncology Clinic, Vascular Surgery Office, University CT, and Nuclear Medicine presented successes from their projects to system leaders from hospital networks around North America who belong to a not-for-profit organization, Catalysis. The organization has a vision “to transform the healthcare industry through experiments, collaboration and education.”

Catalysis representatives were curious to better understand our union’s Labor Management Partnership, and to learn how projects developed by SHARE members were improving patient care, creating cost-savings, and making our work as caregivers more efficient and more meaningful.

Kellie Morton, a SHARE member of the Cancer Clinic UBT, described their heartwarming project to provide fitting head coverings for all patients undergoing cancer treatments. Before, options were limited and unnatural on some patients. However, after taking advantage of a Seed Equity grant, SHARE members were able to provide wigs, hats, and other head coverings that suited a more diverse range of patients.

Halloween gave UBT Coaches Joan Perrault and Will Erickson the opportunity to reveal their true identities as The Wastebusters!

Welcoming Alaina Anderson to the Partnership Office

And, last but not least, we’re excited to share this exciting announcement from our friends in the SHARE-UMass Memorial Partnership office!

Alaina Anderson, UBT Program Coordinator

We write to introduce you to our new UBT Program Coordinator, Alaina Anderson!  Alaina joins us most recently from the Marlboro Hospital ED and has already been making great impressions in her first few days with us.  In the coming weeks we’re going to be bringing her with us to many of your UBT meetings, co-cos and preps to help her get a deep understanding of what we’re up to, so we hope you’ll get the chance to meet her soon.  In addition to shepherding our UBT program schedules and activities, Alaina is going to be a great resource to you in your UBT and LMP project work.  Please join us in welcoming Alaina!

SHARE Updates: MA Apprenticeship Program, UnionPlus How-To, and More

to have a say, we have to participate

SHARE encourages you to get out and vote!

Earn and Learn with the Medical Assistant Training Program

How the pay works for SHARE members who are admitted to the Medical Assistant Registered Apprenticeship program:

The flyer shown above for the Medical Assistant Apprenticeship program only lists the starting pay if you are coming from outside of SHARE. If you are already a SHARE member, your pay rate will be determined by your current grade. The promotional increase rules decide how much your rate would go up. The promotional increase is 5% per grade. (If that math doesn’t land your rate on a platform in the grade, the rate will be rounded up to the next platform.)

Medical Assistant Trainee is a NSG5 title.

Medical Assistant, Certified is a NSG6 title.

  • Example: If you transfer from a NSG3 job, like PCA 1, to the Medical Assistant Trainee title, that’s 2 grades higher. So you would get a 10% increase. You would get an additional 5% when you get certified.

  • Example: If you transfer from a NSG4 job, like PCA 2, to the Medical Assistant Trainee title, that’s 1 grades higher. So you would get a 5% increase. You would get an additional 5% when you get certified.

Note: If you transfer from a title in a higher grade, your pay rate would be decreased 5% per grade.

A Tip for Taking Advantage of Union Plus Programs

In our last email, we highlighted the valuable benefits available through the UnionPlus program, everything from legal help to discounted movie tickets to educational opportunities.

Thank you to those who reached out and reminded us that SHARE is not listed as an option in the registration for the program. To sign up, you’ll need to select our parent union, AFSCME, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, in the dropdown menu. Our union is also identified as AFSCME Local 3900.

SHARE Updates: Make the Most of Your Raise, Career Pathways, and More!

Raises came at the beginning of October, and now that we’re in the Open Enrollment period, it’s a good time to be thinking about your own financial and retirement planning. Below you can find directions on how to check your raise and ways to make your money go further.

Former SHARE union co-president and CT Tech Jay Hagan provided brilliant patient care at UMass Memorial for several decades. And now he’s now making the most of the SHARE retirement benefits!

UMass Memorial Legal Services

In addition to investing in your future self by upping your contribution to your 401k, you might consider using the UMass Memorial Legal Assistance Plan to prepare for the future.

Former SHARE Union President Jay Hagan used those services before his own retirement, and had good things to say about it. “Before, I called a financial advisor, and was told that the services I wanted would cost me three or four thousand dollars. So, instead, I got set up with the Legal Assistance Plan for one year, and saved a lot.

“I called MetLaw and they provided me a list of local lawyers to choose from. I met with one a couple of times . . . he was friendly and competent. There are additional expenses that you have to pay to Massachusetts for things like recording fees, but all of the legal bills get directly to MetLaw. If someone dies, it’s bad enough to grieve, and I don’t want my wife or me to have worry about all this then. I’m so glad I’ve got my will and everything taken care of.”

Could a Health Care Flexible Spending Account Work for You?

UnionPlus Benefits for SHARE Members

If you’re signed up for SHARE, you’re also eligible for the perks, discounts, and low-cost programs for union members through the nationwide UnionPlus program, which also includes financial services such as personal loans, student debt help, credit card debt settlement, and more.

How to Check Your Raise

The recent raise became effective 9/29/24, and was reflected in the first paycheck after that date.

Your raise was 4.5% of your old hourly rate, or $1.00 per hour, whichever amount was larger.

For more information about the structure of the raise, and how to calculate your own, and what happens if your pay has reached the Max Cap, check out this page about raises.

Many more of the most common questions are answered in this FAQ from the last contract agreement. This raise is the third of four annual raises negotiated for this contract period.

You can confirm that your raise was processed in Workday. Just log in and go to your profile, then select “Compensation” (see example image below from the Workday app.)

If you have questions or concerns about your raise, please contact the SHARE Organizer for your area. You can also call SHARE at 508-929-4020 or email share.comment@theshareunion.org.

You will see your Pay Raise reflected in the “Compensation” section of Workday, as well as in your “Pay Change History”

Do You Know Someone Who Would Like to Become a CT Technologist?

Reminder: SHARE Retirement Info Sessions. Register now!

SHARE Retirement Information Sessions

In case you haven’t heard, raises are coming soon, and raise-time is a great time to re-evaluate your retirement strategy!

SHARE will be hosting three upcoming information sessions to help SHARE members understand more about the retirement benefits available, including the 401k, as well as the Defined Benefit Pension, a valuable asset that has become increasingly rare in American workplaces. (However, SHARE has worked over the years to keep our own pension sustainable, and has negotiated for the hospital to continue providing it to everyone in the SHARE bargaining unit.) Get the link to this virtual event by registering below . . .

Congratulations to Our 2024 Mass AFL-CIO Scholarship Recipient

Leo attends the University of Massachusetts, where he is majoring in Music

Congratulations to Leo Perry, who recently received the $1000 Central Massachusetts AFL-CIO Scholarship, a prize awarded to select rising college students in AFSCME families. Leo’s mother, Laura Perry, is a SHARE member and Respiratory Therapist in the Pulmonary Lab.

Keep your eye on the SHARE blog over the coming school year for more #scholarships. For other educational opportunities, check out posts tagged #education.

Learn About Your Retirement Benefits with SHARE

SHARE Retirement Information Sessions

Raises are coming soon, and raise-time is a great time to re-evaluate your retirement strategy!

SHARE will be hosting three upcoming information sessions to help SHARE members understand more about the retirement benefits available, including the 401k, as well as the Defined Benefit Pension, a valuable asset that has become increasingly rare in American workplaces. However, SHARE has helped to keep our own pension sustainable, and has negotiated for the hospital to continue providing it to everyone in the SHARE bargaining unit. Get the link to this virtual event by registering below . . .

PCA Pathway Grads CELEBRATE!

UMass Memorial’s first cohort of the PCA Pathway training program got paid to learn and are already in their new SHARE positions, caring for patients. Congratulations to all you new grads! Here’s to your new career!

click the image for the short bouncing video

Know someone who would like to get started or advance their career in healthcare? The deadline for the next PCA Pathway Program is September 13th. Learn more here

Or, for more opportunities, check out other SHARE posts tagged #Education

SHARE UBTs Celebrate Reaching Top Level of Path to Performance

UMass Memorial Health and SHARE leaders recently celebrated an impressive milestone reached by two Unit-Based Teams, or UBTs.  A UBT is a frontline-led, department-level improvement system that enables caregivers to work on the process problems that make it hardest for them to feel proud of the care they deliver.

This week, Dr. Eric Dickson and other hospital leaders visited the Vascular Surgery Office and Diabetes/Endocrinology departments to celebrate the teams becoming the first UBTs to reach Level 5 status on the UBT Path to Performance.

While over 75 UBTs have been launched over the last several years across the Medical Center, Medical Group, Revenue Cycle, and Marlborough Hospital, these are the first to have reached this top level of performance.

In order to progress through the Path to Performance, a team, made up of a voluntary group of employees consisting of managers, union organizers, and frontline staff, must demonstrate competence in various ways, with a focus on designing and completing improvement projects in their own department. UBT projects often tackle things such as communication or workflow. The ultimate goal of the UBT is to make their departments better places to work — more enjoyable, smoother running, and easier places to give the high-level patient care that they want to provide.

In addition to delivering to each team a traditional SHARE-UMass Partnership Office award — a balloon shaped like a number “5” — Dr. Dickson heard from caregivers about which UBT projects have meant the most to them, what they are working on now, and how having a UBT has changed how they feel about coming to work.  

Congratulations Vascular Surgery Office and Diabetes/Endocrinology UBTs for leading the pack!

Click here to learn more about UBTs, and to find out more about how to launch one in your department reach out to Will.Erickson@umassmemorial.org.

SHARE Updates: PCA Pathway Program, Free English Classes, and Unit Based Teams

PCA Pathway Program Now Accepting Applications

Congratulations to the first graduating cohort of the PCA Pathway Program! They’re now on-the-job as SHARE members, caring for patients at UMass Memorial.

Do you know someone who wants to begin a career at UMass Memorial working on the nursing floors? The Patient Care Associate Program is now open to friends and family of SHARE members!

A Strong Summer for Unit Based Teams

First, the bittersweet news: after helping establish the SHARE-UMass Memorial Partnership Office over the past few years, our beloved UBT Program Coordinator, Stephanie Pepi, has accepted another job at UMass Memorial. We wish you the best in Ophthamology, Steph!

There was nothing bittersweet about the recent FMCS/LERA conference in NYC, where leaders from SHARE and UMass Memorial presented to an international audience about the importance of UBTs.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su (above, middle left) even pulled the presenters into a meeting to talk about the Labor-Management projects that SHARE members are pioneering on the front lines.

SHARE members Celebrate success — and Share what they’ve Learned — at the 2024 UBT Fairs

The most exciting news for Unit Based Teams this Summer is the fantastic success of the UBT Fairs on both the Memorial and University Campuses, where SHARE members showed off their projects to over 1000 attendees. If you missed it, be sure to check out the most recent UBT Newsletter!

Click the image above for lots more photos of UBT Fair fun

Free English Classes for UMass Memorial Caregivers

Patient Care Associate Pathway Training Program

Does someone you know want to begin a career at UMass Memorial working on the nursing floors? The Patient Care Associate Program is open again to friends and family of SHARE members! Learn more about the PCA Pathway program here, or scroll down to read the announcement flyer.

Participants in the first wave of this program, seen above, recently completed their training and are now on the job, as SHARE members at UMass Memorial, caring for patients.

No Voting Required This Year for SHARE Rep and Executive Board Members

This year there are enough positions for all of the SHARE Executive Board and Representative nominees. A vote is only held when there are more people running than there are positions to run for.

Congratulations to the new and returning SHARE representatives, who are now considered elected! Also, thank you to all of the nominators for honoring your co-workers by submitting their names for these important roles.

A list of all SHARE Reps and Executive Board members will be posted soon to the SHARE website

SHARE Leadership Nominations Closing Soon

Are you looking to have a richer work life? To be in-the-know? To make things better in your department, and across UMass Memorial? To better understand how our hospital works? To share your work experience with other SHARE leaders throughout the system? To increase the impact of your voice and the voices of your co-workers?

Know someone who is?

Nominate yourself or a co-worker to become a SHARE Rep or Executive Board member!

The nominations period closes just after Memorial Day, on Tuesday, May 28. The full nominations notice is below. Learn even more about what SHARE leaders do here.

UMass Memorial works because SHARE members — and elected leaders — do!

For a printer-friendly version of the below elections notice, click here.

Medical Assistant Apprenticeship Program

SHARE is very excited to announce this new apprenticeship program in conjunction with UMass Memorial and QCC. Please disregard the pay minimums listed in the flyer and note the pay guidelines at the end of this post, which pertain exclusively to SHARE members. For a printable version of this flyer, click here.

How the pay works for SHARE members who are admitted to the Medical Assistant Registered Apprenticeship program:

The flyer shown above for the Medical Assistant Apprenticeship program only lists the starting pay if you are coming from outside of SHARE. If you are already a SHARE member, your pay rate will be determined by your current grade. The promotional increase rules decide how much your rate would go up. The promotional increase is 5% per grade. (If that math doesn’t land your rate on a platform in the grade, the rate will be rounded up to the next platform.)

Medical Assistant Trainee is a NSG5 title.

Medical Assistant, Certified is a NSG6 title.

  • Example: If you transfer from a NSG3 job, like PCA 1, to the Medical Assistant Trainee title, that’s 2 grades higher. So you would get a 10% increase. You would get an additional 5% when you get certified.

  • Example: If you transfer from a NSG4 job, like PCA 2, to the Medical Assistant Trainee title, that’s 1 grades higher. So you would get a 5% increase. You would get an additional 5% when you get certified.

Note: If you transfer from a title in a higher grade, your pay rate would be decreased 5% per grade.

The SHARE Union / 50 Lake Avenue, Worcester, MA 01604 / Phone: (508) 929-4020 / Fax: (508) 929-4040