Member Update: Shepherd’s Care Vanguard—Local 47, Chapter 11
As you have no doubt heard by now, Vanguard is expanding its fourth floor and will be bringing in new residents and staff to accommodate the changes. Many of those new staff and residents will be coming from another Shepherd’s Care site, Greenfield, which will be closing when the new fourth floor opens.
Your union has signed a Letter of Understanding (LOU) with the employer in order to protect the rights of our fellow workers at Greenfield while they go through the difficult process of having their site shut down.
Our LOU outlines how that will work. All permanent Greenfield workers will have the right to choose to come work on the fourth floor at Vanguard, if they want to. Those workers will keep the level of seniority, benefits, vacation time, and so on, that they accrued during their time at Greenfield. It’s only fair that our new co-workers be kept whole during this process.
This is why we join a union—to know that, even if our employer shuts our site down, we will remain protected. We hope that all of our co-workers at Vanguard will see the value in a larger bargaining unit with the addition of these positions and build solidarity with our new colleagues. That’s how we protect ourselves and our jobs.
We have attached a copy of the full LOU for you to read and cite as necessary. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to your Membership Services Officer, Debbie Kirkpatrick, at d.kirkpatrick@aupe.org