(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – After 45 bargaining sessions over the last two years, Communications of America (CWA) Local 1168 has reached a tentative, and first, three-year contract covering 28 Clinical Engineering Department/BioMed Bargaining Unit Workers employed by Kaleida Health in Buffalo.

A ratification vote has been scheduled for March 2nd.

The Medical Processing Techs - who voted to join Local 1168 in June 2020, are responsible for corrective and preventative maintenance of a number of pieces of equipment, including IVs, MRIs and Cat Scans.

The contract - which is backdated to July 2021 and runs to June 30th, 2023, includes three pay raises over the course of the agreement: 1.5% upon ratification and 2% each in the second and third years, as well as a 4% ratification bonus.

“The ratification bonus depends on the rate of hourly pay, so in some cases a (Member) could be getting (as much as $3,200),” CWA 1168’s Eric Hammond, who was involved in the contract negotiations, told WNYLaborToday.com.

Wage improvements were also made in the area of per call/on-call situations, Union Officials said.  

On another front, the Members’ health care coverage stays at “what we had,” said Hammond, an employer plan that calls for Workers to pay 20% of its overall cost.

And, it was agreed by both sides to create a new Labor-Management Committee,

Hammond said the Medical Processing Techs have had a “positive” reaction to the new contract, especially since their last raise came back in 2019.

“There was ‘no’ raise in 2020 because of COVID ‘when everything stopped and management said there was no money’ for raises.  ‘No one is grumbling, we got our first contract and we’re very happy with the non-economics of it.’  ‘We’re on solid ground moving forward.’  ‘Now we’ll start preparing (to negotiate) for our next’ contract,” he said.

Kelly Walker, who served on the Local 1168 Bargaining Team and has worked at Kaleida for a little over five years, told WNYLaborToday.com the Medical Processing Techs are “definitely in favor” of ratifying their first Union contract: “We ‘feel we got the best deal we could.’”

However, the Clinical Engineering agreement is “completely different” and not part of Kaleida’s Master Contract with CWA Local 1168, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17, Hammond said.

Those Unions, meanwhile, are getting ready to negotiate a new Master Contract with Kaleida.

Walker said the Medical Processing Techs were also grateful to Local 1168’s other represented Members who are employed at Kaleida, including a number who work in other Units “who came out and supported us” during the contract negotiations.

“It was ‘very helpful and it helped motivate us,’” Walker said.

The two CWA Representatives also thanked Local 1168 Vice President Patrick Weisansal and CWA District 1 Staff Representative John Klein for their involvement and assistance in bringing home the Medical Processing Techs’ first contract.

CWA Local 1168 represents more than 200 job titles at Kaleida Health’s area sites, which include: Buffalo General Medical Center; Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital; its Flint Road Labs; DeGraff Hospital, and many other Kaleida off-sites across the Buffalo Community.