At the beginning of October, Catholic Health approached CWA to negotiate an Emergency Response Team (ERT) for the purpose of responding to emergency events that impact patient care and staffing. It was proposed that the ERT would be voluntary to anyone who wants to sign up. This team is 100% optional.
Last year’s blizzard showed us that significant changes needed to be made to prevent the problems that arose from happening again. We worked to make those significant improvements to emergency mandation in this MOU including:
· Receiving pay for sleep/rest time while under mandation
· Immediate notification by CHS upon declaring an extreme emergency
· Notifying CWA prior to declaring an extreme emergency
· A process for releasing those who are under mandation with a tracking system
· CHS being prepared for extreme emergencies with supplies, food, sleeping areas, etc.
Please note as a member of the ERT:
· You could be assigned to any Catholic Health location once activated however, every effort will be made to assign you to your preferred or primary site
· If you are assigned and report to a non-Union facility the Collective Bargaining Agreement still applies
· You should only be performing work that you are competent to perform
· This year there is no deadline to sign up however, next year there may be a deadline to join the ERT
· If you choose to voluntarily stay during an emergency event and did not join the ERT prior to that event, you will NOT receive the ERT payments
· Early in pay is only for those who are NOT already working and report at least 2 hours prior to the emergency event onset
· If you join the ERT and choose NOT to report, you will NOT receive any ERT payments
Please see the attached MOU via the following link and posted below.
