HOSPITAL LEAGUE-SEIU 1199 EMPLOYMENT,
TRAINING AND JOB SECURITY PROGRAM

The Hospital League-SEIU 1199 Employment, Training and Job Security Program (ETJSP) is one of the largest and oldest sector-based labor-management partnerships in the nation, covering more than 300 employers and 85,000 health care workers in the New York City region.

History

The Employment, Training and Job Security Program traces its origins back 30 years. During that period, the National Health and Human Service Employees Union, SEIU 1199 in New York City, negotiated the creation of three interlocking funds with the Hospital League of New York, an association of 50 private non-profit hospitals, nursing homes, mental and health care facilities. The joint Training and Upgrading Fund was formally created in 1969 to upgrade the skills of health care workers. The Job Security Fund began in 1992 to assist laid-off members with training and placement services, as well as health and unemployment benefits. The Planning and Placement Fund was negotiated in 1994 to create the Employment Center. The center serves as a primary source of referrals for employers and placements for workers and has a research component to track industry trends so fund participants can be well prepared. These union-driven programs currently serve more than 300 employers and 85,000 New York area health care workers. The union is seeking to extend these benefits to additional members through collective bargaining

Goals

• Prepare laid-off union members so that they can return to the industry;
• Recruit qualified applicants for all bargaining unit positions through a centralized service;
• Provide effective and supportive counseling, education, training and financial programs that are customized to the needs of members and contributing employers;
• Strengthen the relationship of members to the union and the institutions that employ them;
• Identify changing employment and work requirements in the industry.

Activities

A 1998 merger with Local 144 incorporated similar RN programs into the ETJSP. Today the ETJSP offers a full range of services:

• Training and Upgrading participants can acquire skills, ranging from basic literacy and GED to college degrees. They can acquire specialized occupational skills, earn certifications, attend conferences, obtain continuing education credits, take classes or receive tuition reimbursement.
• The Job Security Fund offers counseling, skill assessment, training, placement and up to two years of health and supplemental unemployment benefits while in training or awaiting placement.
• The Planning and Placement Fund helps place individuals in industry jobs. It also tracks industry trends, technology and job skill changes to assist members, employers and the ETJSP.
• A Labor-Management Project facilitates joint activity to improve operations, patient care and employee job satisfaction.

Results

• With ETJSP generating more than $20 million annually by 1999, the partnership is recognized as one of the largest health care staff training institutions in the nation. Additional public investments total in the tens of millions.
• During the years 1996-1998, the programs (other than the Job-to-Job Program participation) grew. One year more than 17,000 workers were served.
• Major industry layoffs in the 1996-99 were averted by the job-to-job training program. By early 1999 more than 7,000 workers had been trained. Ninty-eight percent of the 1199 participants completed training and 95% of those were placed in new jobs.
• The Employment Center in 1999 had more than 150 employers participating in a placements system for laid-off 1199 members and other workers referred by the center. More than 1,100 workers were placed in new jobs through the Job Security Fund.
• Employers gained more highly skilled workers in each occupation, reduced turnover and reduced costs for recruiting and training new hires.
• Union members benefited from increasing skill levels and earning power and from access to job ladders that are built on skill progressions at all levels.
• The union gained by providing an enhanced range of services to its membership and delivering highly skilled workers to their signatory employers.