On Tuesday 6/21/22 UMass Chan held a town hall meeting. For those of you who were not able to attend, there were some parts related to SHARE members and the COVID Appreciation Bonus.
WHAT HAPPENED AT THE TOWN HALL
Chancellor Collins started by thanking everyone for their work supporting the mission of UMass Chan Medical School over the last couple of years, and referred to the bigger than usual raises and the COVID appreciation bonus for non-union staff as a demonstration of appreciation.
Naturally, SHARE members submitted questions about why we were not included in the bonus, did that mean that SHARE members were not appreciated, are we going to get bonuses, and when? At first we couldn’t see the questions, and then a bunch of them were made public when they were addressed by Chancellor Collins and John Lindstedt, Executive Vice Chancellor for Administration and Finance.
Chancellor Collins assured us that he appreciated SHARE members’ contributions and asked Mr. Lindstedt to explain more. Mr. Lindstedt said that UMass Chan really values the positive working relationship they have with their unions and explained that raises and bonuses for union members have to be negotiated and that, as a state institution, UMass Chan has to coordinate with the Governor’s direction on what he thinks unions should be getting. We all knew that raises and bonuses have to be negotiated (although that can be done separate from contract negotiations) but the part about the directive from the Governor was new information.
As Chancellor Collins continued to receive follow up questions from more SHARE members, he pointed out that we could not negotiate about this in the Town Hall but suggested that SHARE follow up with Mr. Lindstedt and assured everyone that we are going to work this out.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT ABOUT THE BONUS
We are in the process of scheduling a time to meet, to understand better what challenges UMass Chan faces in getting authorization to deliver raises and bonuses to SHARE members. This meeting is a very positive step which we hope will lead to ongoing communication and a satisfactory resolution.