Issue 1 / June 2020 (Click here to view the PDF version)
CONTENTS
01: Officers/Staff Reps
02: Announcements
03: Local/Regional News Roundup
04: Political/Legislative
05: Community Service
OFFICERS/STAFF REPS
Need to file a grievance? Have a contract question? Has there been a violation of the contract at your pharmacy? Has a manager asked you to attend a meeting which may lead to corrective action (“Weingarten meeting”)?
Contact your Staff Rep or Officer
Lawrence Louie – (President)
Robin Borden – (Secretary)
Susan Chmait – (Treasurer)
Nancy Magnante – (VP-Amcare)
Daniel Szeto – VP-Inpatient
OPEN – VP Central Refill/Mail Order
OPEN – (VP-Outpatient)
Rebecca Myung – (Steward Coordinator North)
Kathie Varisco – (Steward Coordinator South)
Fred Aziz (Staff Rep)
Sheri Gotanda (Staff Rep)
Contact Lawrence Louie if interested in any open officer positions.
What’s the difference between a Staff Rep and an Officer? Your Staff Reps are employed full-time by UNAC/UHCP to represent you. Officers are active staff pharmacists at Kaiser who are elected by you to represent members at certain local investigative, corrective action and grievance meetings and orienting new union members ON Kaiser time and paid a modest stipend to oversee the business of the affiliate OFF of Kaiser time. While OFF Kaiser time, some of the officer responsibilities include:
• bargaining your contracts and enforcing them
• lobbying in Sacramento
• holding general membership meetings twice a year
• participating in the grievance review committee
• voting on behalf of the affiliate at UNAC/UHCP Executive Council meetings (all 32 affiliates attend)
• promoting our union to potential new members
• building our communities by organizing community volunteer events
• continuously communicating with members via newsletters and Facebook
Join our Facebook group: United Pharmacists of Southern California (UNAC/UHCP-UPSC)
Need a copy of your CONTRACT? Login to your Memberlink account
ANNOUNCEMENTS
• Good News – If you were on the mid-level health plan with $20 office visit and $10/30-day generic Rx copays, or paid extra for the high-level plan, effective 1/1/2020, co-pays have dropped! ALL benefited SCAL KP Pharmacists now have at no cost-share from your paycheck:
$10 office visit co-pays
$5/30-day generic Rx
• Ballots for Proposed 2020 Budget and Constitutional Changes – Important ballot will be coming in the mail. Be sure to vote.
• Outgoing Officers: Thank you to Cheryl Chan for her dedication as Outpatient VP and Community Service Chairperson. She has stepped down to spend more time with family.
• New Appointed Officers: Welcome aboard to Rebecca Myung as new Steward Coordinator North and Daniel Szeto as new Inpatient VP.
• New Contract Specialists (CSs) for 2020: Congratulations to Arvee Ninofranco, Rebecca Myung and Max Wang. What are CSs? They are KP SCAL Pharmacists paid by Kaiser to spend 20 hours a week rounding and enforcing the contract for YOU. You can contact the CS for your service area here.
• PRINTED COPY OF UPSC CONTRACT – COMING SOON! YOU ASKED, WE LISTENED! UPSC is currently working toward providing a printed copy to each member. In the meantime, an electronic version is now available on Memberlink.
• UNAC/UHCP State Officer and Board of Directors Elections are this year. Due to COVID-19 social distancing, delegates will vote by mail since there will be no UNAC/UHCP Convention. Delegate nomination information was mailed 6/1/2020; nominations close on June 28, 2020 at 11:59pm PDT.
• UNAC/UHCP Scholarships. The deadline to apply for 2020 UNAC/UHCP scholarships for you or your child has passed, but you can still sign up here to help review this year’s applications.
• Get involved! Become a Union Steward and be a resource for your pharmacist colleagues in your local pharmacy. Click here for more information and an application.
• UPSC Website. Under construction. You will be able to access announcements, latest information about your union, your contract, and your profession.
LOCAL & REGIONAL CONTRACT ENFORCEMENT
• UPSC won a Regional grievance over managers working more than four hours/day in Outpatient Pharmacies
• Look for BLUE “Take Charge” flyers in your email or on your Pharmacy Bulletin Board for current contract language topics. It will be published on a semi-monthly basis.
• UPSC has filed a grievance over the recent changes in pharmacist job descriptions and qualifications. Grievance hearing was on June 5, 2020.
• Per Diems do NOT have to pay for the flu shot at Kaiser. It is a condition of your employment.
• You should ALWAYS be guaranteed enough hours to meet your FTE status.
• Your schedule should ALWAYS be posted 2 weeks in advance.
POLITICAL/LEGISLATION UPDATES
SB617 defeated once again in 2020
Our most recent victory was on 1/23/20, defeating SB617 that would have increased the current Pharmacist-to-Tech ratio. This was due largely to UNAC/UHCP’s presence in Sacramento. Bills appear and reappear and we need to stay on top of them.
How can YOU help protect our jobs?
• “PEOPLE” contributions are CRITICAL to help UPSC continue to protect our jobs, our licenses and our patients’ safety
• Your regular union dues can’t be used for political action
• Only 8% of our entire 1500 pharmacists contribute
PLEASE CLICK HERE to contribute to PEOPLE. Be a PEOPLE CHAMPION with $12/paycheck or $20/paycheck and GO BIG, and receive a CHAMPION t-shirt and AFSCME jacket.
We CANNOT continue our level of presence and influence in Sacramento without your support!
COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES
THANKS to UPSC members who donated to purchase our special UPSC teddy bears with attached medicine spoons to comfort sick children and prevent dosing errors. This Spring, we delivered them to Children’s Hospital LA.
What a great way for our Kaiser SoCal Pharmacists to support our communities! Let’s keep up the good work.
We are collecting donations to purchase MORE bears. Each $6 donation (cash/check made payable to UPSC) will purchase one bear for a sick child in the SCAL region.
To donate, or volunteer to help deliver, contact: upsc.kathie.varisco@gmail.com or any Officer or Steward.