Social workers are increasingly pressured to see as many patients as possible, focusing on providing resources for one identified problem, with no time to assess for other issues. Social workers are in an untenable position of working mainly to meet the institution’s financial goals. This needs to change.
This year, there will not be merit raises tied to your evaluations. Instead of getting merit raises determined by supervisors, we will get a union-negotiated raise!
We will be beginning our discussion of raises with management at the bargaining table on July 10th. The bargaining team will say:
The prioritization of insurance billing as a productivity metric is quickly leading to a crisis of lower quality patient care and burnout amongst healthcare providers. Although metrics like these have been in place for a few years now, in 2023, social workers at the University of Michigan Medical Group (UMMG) were told that the rigidity of these metrics would be increased.
Most people believe putting profits over patients’ care is wrong, but systems such as Michigan Medicine are pushing staff to reach increasingly harsh productivity metrics.
Our morning began with powerful statements and testimonies from UMMAP members and allies. We began by sharing basic facts about pregnancy loss and its impact on expecting parents emotionally and physically, followed by deeply moving testimonials from members in support of our bereavement leave proposal.
We may not be aware that someone close to us is living with speech, language and hearing difficulties. We may form unfavorable impressions of these folks thinking they are troublesome, unintelligent or drunk. May is National Speech, Language and Hearing Month. This is an opportunity to raise awareness about these disorders and how they can be addressed.
CALL TO ACTION: Several members and experts are prepared to testify Wednesday in support of our bereavement proposal, which would provide leave in the case of a pregnancy loss. Management so far has rejected our fair and compassionate proposal, but you can help put pressure on the bosses to agree to our demand.
Though no proposals were exchanged, last Wednesday, there were healthy conversations that led us to find some common ground. We began our session by revisiting management’s counter-proposals from last week for clarity.
Michigan Medicine has declared May to be Grief Awareness Month for Faculty and Staff. We experience grief and loss as employees. Since February, we’ve worked to extend the current Bereavement Leave policy to include the loss of an unborn child in our contract. UMMAP Member, Trisha Pierson, shared her heartbreaking loss of her daughter with the Regents, last Thursday. Below is her statement:
While we made some nice strides on May 1st, last week proved to be frustrating at best. The most contentious part of our Negotiations was management’s counter-proposal on Funeral (Bereavement) Leave. This discussion happened mid-way through our session.