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!