Hi all! SHARE’s 2020 is off to a strong start. Our union is the largest in our hospital, which is the largest employer in central Massachusetts. And we’re growing. You can see in this roundup some of the reasons that that’s a good thing. We’re particularly excited that over 500 SHARE members are currently in departments with Unit Based Teams.
As a member of SHARE, you’re also a member of AFSCME, which includes over 1.4 million members across the country.
YOUR AFSCME ID
We’ve gotten a number of calls recently about bright green union membership cards that are showing up at home mailboxes. Those are legit! It appears that those of us who are dues-paying members are currently getting new cards for the 2020 year from our parent union, AFSCME.
The number on that card is valuable toward a number of education, healthcare, and consumer savings programs, many through UnionPlus. If you’ve thrown out your card, or didn’t receive one, feel free to call the SHARE office (508) 929-4020, and we’ll be happy to look up your number for you. For more details, check out this blog post.
UMASS MEMORIAL PCA SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITY
Are you a PCA currently studying to advance your career in nursing? You may qualify for the UMass Memorial PCA Scholarship.
STAFFING LEVELS at UMass Memorial
. . . are discussed in this article from the Worcester Business Journal: Leading Healthcare Organizations in Central Mass Cutting Total Executive Pay. Although the headline focuses on cutbacks at the leadership level, the article also points out that UMass Memorial “reduced the number of employees by almost 8%, or nearly 1,200 workers, over a five-year period ending in 2017,” and that red tape is costing hospitals in ways that don’t benefit their patients, employees, or local communities. Most SHARE members know this is true, even without having to know the specific details, since we all feel the effect of the tight staffing levels in departments.
In spite of these trends, SHARE is seeing some growth in its ranks. Our overall numbers our getting bigger, and our union is experiencing particular increases among Medical Office Assistants and in Financial Clearance. Over the past five years, SHARE has gained roughly 250 members, so that there’s currently a total of 2793 of us at UMass Memorial.
The NUMBERS from 2019: UNIONIZATION and MIDDLE-CLASS
The Economic Policy Institute, “a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank created in 1986 to include the needs of low- and middle-income workers in economic policy discussions,” released its top charts of 2019 to paint a portrait of recent economic trends. Their findings show that American workers generally want more ability to unionize, that roughly 40% of employers engage in illegal activities to inhibit unions, and that income inequality increases as union membership declines.