By TRACEY DRURY
Business First

Contract negotiations between union leaders and employers can be difficult. And once an agreement is reached, making changes can be next to impossible.

But some unions have found a way to enable changes to satisfy both sides, improving working conditions and saving money for the employer. At Erie County Medical Center Corp., about 20 changes have been made with CSEA Local 815 since contract negotiations ended six months ago using a series of memorandums of agreement (MOAs).

Three changes in particular have been most successful:

• Reclassifying the LPN (licensed practical nurse) title at the Erie County Home, resulting in a pay increase for caregivers and the elimination of a "summer hours" schedule, along with a reduction from a one-hour paid lunch to half an hour.

• Reorganization of work hours and pay structure for pharmacists at the hospital, along with per diem positions and subcontracting for pharmacy services at the Erie County Home and ECMC's Skilled Nursing Facility.

• Changes in workweeks to enable 10-hour shifts on a four-day week; and 12-hour shift agreements.

Kathleen O'Hara, vice president for human resources at ECMC, says not only do these MOAs help increase employee productivity and enhance bottom-line revenues, they also make salaries more competitive in the marketplace, leading to increased success in recruitment and retention, particularly with LPNs.

"We were trying to up the recruitment of LPNs, who are the primary staffing at Erie County Home. We had to increase compensation," she says. "Some of our nurses were leaving to work elsewhere. Now we've managed to recruit new people into the positions, and we've retained (staff), which was good, too."

Joan Bender, CSEA section president and president of Local 815, says the LPN reclassification was important for the health of the facility as well.

"The home needed help," she says. "They were paying an agency mega-bucks to provide services because they couldn't get anyone to work there. So even though our members got something, the home is still saving mega-dollars. We also reduced the hours of paid time off the employees were getting and gave them more time at work."

O'Hara says MOAs are a great way to try something new. And because many are put in place on a pilot basis, if one side isn't happy with the outcome, it can easily be changed back when the period is over. If both sides see success, the MOA can be rolled over for another defined period of time.

The MOAs with the pharmacists have been particularly helpful in not only recruiting and retaining staff, but in allowing workers to take a second job, when desired. The changes also enabled a pay increase, giving the hospital and nursing home a better competitive edge against not only other health systems, but against private pharmacies such as Walgreens and CVS.

"It made it easier for the pharmacists who perhaps had other jobs, and could not work four or five days in a row, then have four or five days off," Bender says, giving them the flexibility to work 10- or 12-hour days to complete a 40-hour week in three or four days, then have a few days off to work or stay home with their families.

"What we've managed to do is incorporate into these MOAs a little more flexibility for the pharmacist employees to moonlight with us or someone else," O'Hara says. "We're not in crisis mode, and have not been since we put those series of agreements in place in 2005."