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Chapter 58. RECOMMENDATION REPORT
Student Sample of a
Recommendation Report
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Advanced Expository Writing
University of Minnesota
Copyright by Sara Muellerleile
Recommendation for a Union
Contract Rewrite
by Sara Muellerleile
St. Paul’s Level 1 Trauma Center, Regions Hospital Emergency Room, is a
busy ER which depends on many people to make it run smoothly. The problem is that Emergency Room Technicians (ERTs) who are
part of the team, are underpaid and the turnover rate for the position is high
despite their being part of a union. This
Recommendation Report provides many possible solutions to this problem and
examines them by following a set of criteria in order to distinguish the best
possible solution.
Executive Summary
The problem is that ERTs are underpaid for the duties they perform though
Regions Hospital ERTs are union members. When
compared to other jobs which require skills and training or when compared to
ERTs of other hospitals, Regions Hospital ERTs make less money despite the
biohazards encountered and skills used. There
are six proposed solutions to this problem.
Possible solutions:
Current ERTs leave Regions Hospital and seek other higher
paying job.
ERTs pressure the Union for better representation to achieve competitive
wages.
ERTs pressure Regions Hospital for higher wages.
Rewrite the Union-workplace contract.
Create an ERT representative.
Go on strike.
These solutions are rated against a set of six criteria.
Criteria:
Chance of wage increase.
Short-term economic cost for ERTs.
Time involvement of ERTs.
Effect on other employees of the Emergency Room.
The need to search for a new job.
Maintenance of workplace respect.
The final selection of the solutions would be the rewriting
of the workplace-union contract between Regions Emergency Room and Council 14 of
the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO Local
722 (AFSCME). This solution would
be the most effective because it would most likely result in a fair pay increase
and maintain workplace integrity.
Problem
First, the problem of unsatisfied ERTs is discussed in greater detail.
As previously mentioned, the turnover rate for ERTs in Regions Hospital
Emergency Room is fairly high. In
gathering data from Regions Hospital ER management, it was found that the
average length of employment for ERTs at Regions Hospital is not very long.
Linda Manders, Nurse Manager for Regions Hospital Emergency Room,
estimated the average length of employment to be between one and two years.
In health care, this is not a long time considering the training involved
in becoming a certified ERT and the six month training period as an Emergency
Room Technician Trainee (ERTT). This
high turnover rate is partly due to the fact that many ERTs are also college
students or are in nursing or medical school.
Though low pay for their work accounts for one reason that the ERTs
aren’t employed for long at Regions Hospital.
ERTs are required to become certified Emergency Room Technicians by
successfully completing a ninety hour class either at Regions Hospital or
through a community college. In
such classes, ERTs are trained to use a wide variety of medical
skills such as application and fitting of splints, testing blood sugar levels,
and inserting catheters. These
skills, along with many others, are used often throughout an eight hour shift.
However, along with those
procedures comes some dirty work. Included
is the job of cleaning up incontinent patients and stocking rooms for the next
patient. Upon collecting data
throughout several shifts, it was found that ERTs come in contact with many
biohazards such as blood, urine and saliva an average of twelve times per eight
hour shift.
Despite the high risk that ERTs run by working with such materials, ERTs
aren’t paid for such hazards like other workers are.
Housekeepers in the Emergency Room are compensated for working with
biohazards. However, ERTs who have
much more first hand exposure to the hazards are not compensated.
This lack of wage compensation may be due to an outdated job description
by the Union. The role of the ERT
has changed drastically over time to include many new skills.
Helen Remick, an author who focuses on comparative worth, recognizes the
need for a system which assigns a standard value to different types of work.
She also describes a system called “job content analysis” which is
the determination of tasks and skills associated with a job (19).
Job content analysis of ERTs would help portray a good picture of all of
the duties which ERTs perform. This
unfairness in salary has led to a low morale on the ERT staff and a negative
attitude because of the high turnover rate and increased work load.
Since the length of employment for ERTs at Regions Hospital is low,
employees are being hired more often and the result is more training of new ERTs
by the ‘seasoned’ ERTs.
The wage differences are displayed in the chart below.
The chart compares the Union ERTs with other union employees.
The wages listed are minimum wages given in the Union contract.
Regions ER is considered a union shop.
“A union shop permits the employees to hire nonunion workers but
provides that these workers must join the Union in a specified period . . . or
relinquish their jobs” (Brue and McConnell 679).
When ERTs are hired by Regions Hospital, they are given thirty days to
join the AFSCME Union and must agree to pay a fee every other pay period for
union dues. The current amount for
monthly union dues for Regions Hospital ERTs is $27.
As the contract Agreement between REGIONS HOSPITAL and COUNCIL 14 of
the AFSCME Local 722 states, “Each employee . . .
shall, as a condition of employment, maintain his/her membership in the
Union or pay to the Union each month a service charge . . . an amount equal to
the regular monthly dues” (6). If
the Union does not receive the agreement within thirty days of new ERT hire, the
Union will notify the employer and the employee will be terminated.
Buswell, a union expert states, “As soon as the union notifies the
employer that one of his employees is no longer in good standing, it becomes the
employer’s duty to fire the workman, pronto, no matter how efficient an
employee he may be” (5).
The purpose of a union is to defend their workers and to work for higher,
competitive wages for its workers. Data
shows that on average, union workers make higher wages than non-union workers.
Brue and McConnell, economics professors, determined that on average
union members have a ten to fifteen percent wage advantage over nonunion workers
(680). The ERTs at Regions Hospital
are an exception because non-union workers in the Hospital with similar skills,
such as Nurses Aids, make a higher hourly wage than the Union ERTs.
Below is a comparison between Regions Hospital ERT wages and non-union
workers with similar skills and training. The
data was obtained through employment postings and the American Salaries and
Wage Survey.
Evaluation
Next, each solution to the problem will be held against all of the given
criteria in order to make a recommendation as to which solution would be the
most effective. The most likely
solutions are discussed in greater detail in order to determine the best
possible solution. And lastly a
final choice is made.
Solutions:
The first solution would be for the ERTs to quit their jobs at Regions
Hospital and find a new, higher paying job.
This would require time involvement in searching for a new job as well as
the risk of being unemployed until a new job is obtained.
The second solution would be for ERTs to pressure the Union for higher
wages. This would include letters
to and meetings with union representatives as well as attendance of union
meetings by many ERTs. This may be
effective because the Union has the ability to help gain wage increases. As Smyth and Murphy stated, the “union shop gives the union
as much control over the employees as the employer has since the employee must
remain a union member in good standing to retain employment” (110).
The third possible solution would be for Regions Hospital ERTs to
pressure the Emergency Department for more funding for ERT wages.
This solution would also include letters to Emergency Department
management expressing the need of higher wages for ERTs.
This possibility is similar to the possibility of pressuring the Union.
Though, the pressuring of Regions Hospital management may be less
effective due to the authority given to the Union to determine and set maximums
on wages. The contract agreement
states in an AFSCME salary ranges list that a minimum and maximum wage are set
by the Union (Appendix A).
The fourth possible solution would be to rewrite the AFSCME-Regions
Hospital contract for ERTs. This
would include negotiations between Union representatives and ERTs. Optimally, rewriting of the old contract would include a more
competitive wage and possibility for raises.
The existing contract between Regions Hospital and AFSCME states its
effective dates as “July 1, 1997 through June 30, 2000” (title page), so
rewriting would take place around May
or June of 2000. The next possible
solution would be to create an ERT
representative to meet with union representatives and present the needs of all
of Regions Hospital ERTs. The ERT
representative would be a spokesperson for the ERTs and represent their needs to
the Union.
The last and possibly most drastic solution would be for the ERTs to go
on strike for higher wages. Because
of workplace disruption and lack of wages a strike would be the last choice for
many ERTs. As John Gennard
concluded, the average length of an official strike is 14.4 working days (101).
Approximately three work weeks without pay would be a great cost to many
ERTs. Most often, opposing groups
can solve disputes without resorting to strikes.
Brue and McConnell determined that 95% of bargaining contracts are
negotiated by means other than strikes(678).
As long as realistic goals are set, a strike would be the last option.
According to Edward Peters, “Strikes
are caused more often by the failure of one or both of the parties to set a
realistic goal than for any other single reason” (61).
Though a strike would be a solution to the problem, it should only be
considered as an alternative solution if the others are not effective.
Criteria:
The first criterion that all of the solutions are judged against is the
possibility of wage increase. This
criterion tries to determine the chance of a higher wage if the solution were
carried out. This criterion is
partially a way of measuring the effectiveness of each solution.
The second criterion is the economic cost to ERTs.
For example, if the solution required the ERTs to go without work for a
period of time, the economic cost would be high due to the lost wages.
The third criterion by which the solutions are measured is the amount of
time in addition to work time that would be required by ERTs.
This is important because many ERTs are also students or parents and
their time is limited.
The fourth criterion used to test the solutions is the effect the
solution would have on other employees of the ER.
If the solution involved a shortage or lack of ERTs many other workers in
the ER such as nurses and physicians would be negatively affected.
The greater number of third party employees that would be affected, the
less effective the solution would be. The
next criterion used to test the solutions is whether or not the solution
requires ERTs to search for a new job. The
negative effect of having to switch jobs is large enough to account for its own
criterion. The amount of work
involved in searching, applying, interviewing and orienting for a new job would
be a large disadvantage. The last
criterion by which the solutions are measured is the maintenance of workplace
respect. The Emergency Room is a
high stress, fast paced workplace that requires communication and teamwork
between all of its members. A loss
of respect or a damage to relationships between co-workers in the ER would be
damaging to all of its employees and the productivity of patient care.
Solutions-Criteria Chart:
The Solutions Criteria Chart gives a number value to each solution in
regard to the given criteria. Each
solution is tested against every criterion and a number value is given. The numbers range from zero to ten. Zero would be the most negative possible outcome and ten
would be the best possible outcome. The
numbers are then added and each solution is given a total number value.
The Solutions Criteria Chart allows all of the criteria to come together
to help determine the best possible solution to the problem.
Application:
The Solutions Criteria Chart resulted in a large span of numbers.
Some of the solutions are very similar and could be combined to create
one solution. For example, creating
an ERT representative and pressuring the Union for higher wages could be
combined to create one solution. The
probability would be that the ERT representative would take over the job of
pressuring the Union to obtain the goal of higher wages.
Similarly, the top three choices of pressuring the Union, creating an ERT
representative and rewriting the contract are complimentary.
Most likely a rewrite of the contract would take place between the Union
and some type of ERT representative. These
three solutions can divide into two different combined solutions.
One would be to create an ERT representative and pressure the Union and
the second would be to rewrite the contract which would likely require an ERT
representative. Either way, a
spokesperson for Regions Hospital ERTs would be a beneficial part of the
solution.
Revised Solutions:
Create an ERT representative and pressure the Union.
Create an ERT representative and rewrite the Union contract.
The first solution to create an ERT representative and pressure the Union
by phone calls, letters, and meetings would have a fair probability of resulting
in a wage increase. Constant
pressure on the Union by a representative would possibly, though not probably,
result in a wage increase. The time
factor for most ERTs would be minimal. Though
the one elected representative would have a large time commitment. The majority
of the ERTs’ time would not be affected other than the occasional letter
writing or meeting attendance.
The second solution to create a representative and rewrite the contract
would most likely result in a wage increase.
Though the time factor would be higher for ERTs, most of the negotiating
would be done between ERT and union representatives, though current ERTs would
be encouraged to get involved. The
idea of using an ERT representative or spokesperson is a strong one because
negotiations are more likely to take place between a few people who represent
the views and needs of both the Union and the ERTs. As Bevars D. Mabry Ph.D. of Bowling Green State University
said, “A sub-committee of not more than 10, and more frequently 5, will do the
actual negotiating, for negotiation precedes best when the bargaining teams are
small” (301). Though the
negotiations would take place between small numbers of people, some meeting
attendance would be encouraged for all ERTs in order to determine the needs and
desires of all. These meetings
would give the ERTs a chance to plan. Mabry
suggested the importance of planning; “One of the most important ingredients
of successful bargaining techniques is planning, that is, preparation of the
ground work for negotiations” (299).
At such meetings, arguments for higher wages would be discussed and
presented. Such arguments as the
degree of skills used in the job and the consistent contact with biohazards and
body fluids could be used to argue the need of higher ERT wages.
An ERT would be the best representative because he or she would have the
best idea of duties and skills involved in an ERT’s job.
And as Peters stated, “A successful approach to collective bargaining
is a knowledge of the unique features of the industry and company they
represent” (21).
Final Choice:
Based on the solutions and the criteria, the recommendation for the final
choice would be to arrange for a union contract rewrite to better suit the needs
of the ERTs. Such a union contract
rewrite would take place with negotiation between union representatives and ERTs
through the use of an ERT representative. The
chance of wage increase would be high and workplace respect would be maintained.
Results
Finally, the possible results of a
contract rewrite between Regions Hospital and AFSCME could be either positive or
negative for Regions Hospital ERTs. The
probability for a positive outcome and higher wages for ERTs would be likely
through a union contract rewrite. One
positive result would be higher, more competitive wages.
These higher wages would most likely encourage longer term employment of
ERTs at Regions Hospital. The
morale of ERTs could also increase. And,
the rest of the ER staff would benefit by having the dependence of more
knowledgeable, experienced ERTs. Another
positive result could be the maintenance of workplace respect.
The nurses and doctors rely on ERTs.
By continuing to work, the ERTs would maintain the trust earned by
co-workers. A third positive result would be better work relationships
between administration and staff. Because the staff would feel it is being
treated with greater respect, it would be more open to administrative
suggestions and ideas.
The outcome would be positive if ERTs were able to avoid such problems as
a strike or having to leave Regions Hospital.
As long as negotiations were successful and fair, ERTs would be able to
continue employment with a new, more competitive wage at Regions Hospital.
A possible negative result of the rewriting of the Union contract would
be the lack of wage increase. If
the ERTs or ERT representative were unable to demonstrate the need for a wage
increase, a new contract may be signed for three more years without higher
wages. Without a wage increase,
there would be the possibility of ERTs earning only cost-of-living wage
increases. This would possibly
result in the carrying out of a more drastic solution such as a strike. The ERTs would have to re-evaluate their needs and return to
planning a new solution to the problem of low wages. The problem of unhappy, underpaid ERTs would not be solved in
the case of a new contract without wage increases. The only real solution
to this problem would be to re-negotiate the same contract much as suggested in
this recommendation.
A second possible negative result would
be a loss of, or lack of normal cost-of-living increase in, the benefits
package. The new contract could allow for a significant wage increase by
subtracting from the benefits package--or not giving it a cost-of-living
increase. ERTs might be happier in the short run, but in the longer run
they would feel once again that administration was handling the situation
poorly, and this in turn would require re-negotiations sooner than otherwise.
A third possible negative result would
be a stalemate over the particular details of the contract. This could
lead to continued or increased unhappiness among ERTs, who might be more likely
to resort to a strike. The solution to this problem is to keep the
channels of communication open during the contract negotiations and for both
sides to be willing to compromise.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the problem between a high turnover rate of ERTs and their
low pay has been tied to the lack of union support for higher ERT wages in this
recommendation report. Two main
solutions of creating an ERT representative and pressuring the Union and
rewriting of the contract are examined against many criteria.
Since the main reason for dissatisfaction is low wages, the high
possibility of wage increase in the contract rewrite solution would make the
most sense. The probable main
result would be a more competitive wage for ERTs and, hopefully, a longer
average length of employment for ERTs at Regions Hospital.
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