Our Sick Bank is Broke(n)

Our Sick Bank runs on BOT policy, not specific contract language. When one of us needs extra sick days, local and system management must agree to set up a Sick Bank—it is not mandatory. (A Sick Bank request has been denied recently for a colleague at Three Rivers.) After management approves the request, sick day donations must be solicited, and these are limited by BOT policy.

While our new agreement extends the limit beyond the previous BOT policy of 100 days, our Sick Bank is dramatically inferior to the AFT Sick Bank.

The AFT Sick Bank functions like an insurance policy. AFT members can choose to donate three days to it, and if they do, the bank is available for their use. A joint union-management committee grants benefits upon request. Annually, AFT members may be asked to donate three additional days to maintain the health of the bank. With fewer than 200 full-time members, the AFT Sick Bank now contains in excess of 6000 sick days, according to AFT president Dennis Bogusky. He also tells us the joint labor-management committee has never caused AFT members a problem in receiving benefits.

To read the AFT summary of their Sick Bank, click on this link.

By the way, our candidate for 4C’s president, Steve Cohen, noticed this deficiency when he joined our system in 1988. (He had been an ACL in the CSU, and his AFSCME bargaining unit had an AFT-style Sick Bank.) Steve pointed out this difference to management and our union at that time…to no avail.

NEXT: Mileage Matters