Job Security, Training & Layoff Protection

The Local 34 Job Search Team

If you are a laid off Clerical & Technical worker, your advocate is the joint union-management Job Search Team, created in 1992, whose mission is to supplement University placement efforts and job counseling.  Two C&T employees, Ken Suzuki and Duane Mellor, are the fulltime representatives for Local 34 on the Team.  As soon as an employee receives a layoff notice, they work with that employee to find a permanent position.  They provide information about rights, benefits, and responsibilities; they help with resumes and job bidding; and they serve as an employee advocate with Human Resources and hiring supervisors.

With our contract language as the basis, the Team has taken an aggressive and creative approach to placing laid off workers and has had some amount of success in improving Yale’s record on hiring laid off and internal job applicants.  However, the campus-wide statistics still show that many jobs that should go to layoffs and internals are filled by external applicants.

In addition to working with C&Ts facing layoff, the Job Search Team stands ready to assist workers with job audits, job search strategies, resumes and questions related to job descriptions/classifications and promotions/tranfers. For more information, please read Article XVII (Job Security) of the contract, or contact Ken or Duane on the Job Search Team (624-5161).

Training Opportunities

Local 34 members have long sought opportunities for training. Unfortunately, Yale’s internal training courses have consistently been oversubscribed, and many departments have refused to release workers for training.

Beginning in 2004, the new contract guarantees every Local 34 member four days of release time each year for training. It also creates a joint training committee to help oversee the expansion of course offerings and to consider appropriate bonus payments for completion of degree programs or extensive training programs. Training can now be an everyday part of work and advancement at Yale.

For more information, contact Ken or Duane on the Job Search Team (624-5161).

Interim Employment Pool

The Interim Employment Pool, or IEP, is part of Local 34’s excellent job security contract language.  Established in the 1992 Agreement, the IEP is one of three salary/benefit continuation options available to laid off C&Ts.  (The other two options are simple salary continuation for a period of time based on years of service or a one-time training grant for academic or practical training.)  A non-probationary C&T facing layoff, who has not accepted a new position before the effective date of layoff, may choose to be placed in the IEP. When you are in the IEP, you will receive your full wages and benefits while you actively seek permanent positions at the University.  The amount of “Pool” time for which you are eligible depends on your full years of service at Yale: less than one year of service = 1 month in the IEP; 1-5 years = 6 months; and, 6 years or more = 15 months.  Moreover, any Local 34 member with more than 15 years of service who does not find a position by the expiration of her IEP time will receive a lump sum severance payment equal to 1 week for every 2 years of completed service at Yale.

In any case where someone facing layoff is at least 50, but less than 55 years old, and would have 20 years or more of service by the time she turns 55, she may choose to continue in the IEP until she turns 55 and takes early retirement.

New layoff protections

Based on our experiences when Yale transferred its Psychiatric Institute to Yale-New Haven Hospital, we wanted to secure better retraining benefits and more pool time for people involved in large layoffs and for those whose unusual skills make it more difficult to be placed in jobs in the Local 34 bargaining unit.

Under the new language, whenever a layoff of 25 or more people is planned, Yale must give us at least 6 months advance notice. This will ensure extra planning and transition time for those affected and if the University and union make good on promises of future cooperation might provide an opportunity to limit the scope of the layoff or help employees in other ways. Where a layoff does occur, all affected employees will receive a minimum of 18 months pool time and will have release time and special access to training. This training will include the employee’s choice of access to Yale internal skills training programs, or the opportunity to attend training outside Yale with up to $3,000 tuition paid by the University. Finally, anyone not placed in a Yale job by the end of her IEP time may also elect to receive either a training grant of 3 months’ salary or salary and benefit continuation option of one week of pay for every two years of service.

By mutual agreement of the union and Yale members of the job search team, the training and IEP provisions described above can also apply to laid-off employees whose skills make them hard to place in the Local 34 bargaining unit.

Casuals and Temporary Employees: Six- and Nine-Month Jobs

The overuse of casual and temporary employees for positions that are neither casual nor temporary has been a long-standing problem in Local 34. New contract provisions will help ensure these practices are curtailed and permanent jobs are created where permanent work exists.

First, there will now be automatic notification and automatic payroll cutoff after 20 weeks for a casual or 26 weeks for a temporary employee, except when an individual is covering a permanent employee’s leave of absence. This means that individual departments cannot continue to pay casual or temporary workers beyond the limits established in the contract, as has happened in the past. These provisions apply whether the casual/temporary worker is paid directly by Yale or through an outside agency.

Second, 40 new floater-type, 6-9 month seasonal, or fixed-duration permanent positions have been added to our bargaining unit.

Third, where permanent-but-seasonal work exists, which is common in departments like Athletics, 6-9 month jobs can be created, with prorated benefit coverage and eligibility for the Interim Employment Pool, rather than using casuals or temporaries.