Minutes 08-21-03MINUTES OF THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN AND OILERS, BLUE
COLLAR, AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
SESSION, HELD ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2003 AT 1:00 A.M. IN
CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA
Present:
For the City:
Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager
Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources
For NCF&O:
Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227
Mike Taylor, Union Steward
Rick Smith, Union Steward
Don Roberts, Union Steward
John Wolcott, Union Steward
Bob Kruper, Union Steward
Richard Stone, Union Steward
Brian Stanley, Union Steward
Mike Osborn, Union Steward
Opening and Introduction
Mr. Hawkins called the meeting to order at 1:20 p.m. All parties present introduced
himself or herself.
Mr. Hawkins inquired who would be speaking on behalf of the Union, and Ms. Munley
stated that Mike Taylor, Rick Smith and herself would be speaking for the Union.
Minutes of August 7, 2003 Meeting
Mr. Lee inquired if there were any questions or concerns regarding the minutes of the
August 7, 2003 meeting. The parties took a few minutes to look over the minutes. Ms.
Munley stated that the minutes were acceptable as submitted and she had no
corrections. Mr. Hawkins requested that the record show that the minutes were okay as
submitted and there were no corrections.
Summary of Activity of Prior Meetinq
Mr. Lee prepared and distributed a matrix that contained the following:
Articles in the Union Agreement as listed in the table of contents
The City's position
The Union's position
Status/cost
Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 21, 2003
Ms. Munley would also like some language included to determine what happens when
an employee is terminated.
Mr. Lee pointed out at the morning meeting there was discussion regarding levels of
discipline. The discussion included verbal and written warnings versus suspension,
where the employee would lose pay. He pointed out that the union felt that all discipline
should proceed through this process. There was also discussion as to how long a
written warning should remain in an employee's personnel file. Mr. Lee pointed out that
based upon the State of Florida Records Retention laws, it was stated in the contract
that discipline penalties would not be retained beyond two years.
Ms. Munley noted that there was also discussion as to what types of discipline should
go to arbitration and she would like to have it stated that anyone that receives written
discipline should be eligible for arbitration.
Mr. Hawkins suggested that there needs to be some agreed-upon language dealing
with this, and he felt it may not be necessary to proceed to arbitration for anyone
receiving a written reprimand. He acknowledged that the union had concerns that this
could be used against the employee and he felt that they could come to some
agreement on the proper wording to address this concern. Mr. Hawkins did not think it
was necessary to bring in an arbitrator all the time on "word reprimands." He asked
them to consider the progressive discipline procedure that is outlined in the City's PPM,
which is a good straightforward process.
Ms. Munley said that a class-action grievance needs to be defined. Mr. Hawkins stated
that they would have some suggestions about how to define this.
Basic Work Week and Overtime
This Article deals with the task system, which the union strongly adheres to. Ms. Munley
pointed out that sanitation employees perform a very dangerous job and she wants to
make sure that those employees are duly compensated for performing this job. They
have added new language that if an employee finishes his daily task and is sent out
again on that same day to perform work above his normal task assigned hours, that
employee would be paid at the overtime rate of time and one-half. Employees who are
scheduled to work on their off day would be compensated at their overtime rate.
Ms. Munley said that they are requesting that overtime would be offered on a rotating
basis beginning with seniority. If it becomes necessary to assign overtime, it shall be
assigned on a rotating basis in reverse order of seniority. She felt that this would be a
fair process where everyone would be afforded an opportunity to work overtime. Mr. Lee
did not think that the language was worded correctly, nor did he think that this method
would work. Ms. Munley said that they would work on the wording of this language.
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Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 21, 2003
In section 4 of the same article, they have increased the minimum pay to three (3) hours
of work at the rate of one and one-half (1%) times their basic hourly pay rate between
the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 12 midnight. If an employee is called back to work between the
hours of 12:01 a.m. and 7:59 a.m. they would receive three and one-half (3.5) times
their hourly rate
In Section 7 that deals with overtime computation, an employee who is absent, but in a
paid leave status, shall have all work hours while in a paid leave status considered as
time worked.
Section 8, Standby Time, has been increased to three hours wages at the employees'
appropriate rate of pay for each day an employee is on standby or for each day that
they are assigned beeper duty.
In Section 13, the language dealing with employees who work in a higher class, the
twenty day requirement has been deleted and language has been added that the
employee shall receive a 5% increase in pay from the first day of the assignment. This
new language resulted in the entire second paragraph of Section 13 being deleted.
Ms. Munley noted that the language dealing with compensatory time has been clarified
to state that compensatory time would be paid at the same rate as overtime. Also,
compensatory time could be carried for a one-year period
Section 16, Certification Pay, has been changed to provide that the City will pay an
employee $1,000 for each non-job required certification or license that employees
receive, subject to department head approval. Also new language has been added that
training would be provided to lifeguards during working hours so that they could earn or
re-certify their EMT certificate. After an employee earns their EMT certificate, they shall
receive a 5% wage increase. The City will pay for the course and all course material.
Mr. Hawkins inquired if the City already paid for EMT certification and was informed that
it did, but an employee had to go on his own time and not during working hours.
Holidays
Ms. Munley pointed out that the language currently states that birthdays, if taken, would
be charged as a vacation day. The union would like a person's birthday to be a
legitimate holiday and not require a person to take their birthday as a vacation day.
The language in Section 3 has been changed to state that an employee would receive
time and one-half (1%) their wages if they are required to work on an observed holiday
"or on the day the holiday is observed." Sanitation workers would receive their normal
shift hours at time and one-half (1%) when required to work on a holiday. Also, if
sanitation workers are required to work beyond the number of hours included in a
Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 21, 2003
Waaes, Ms. Munley noted that this Article has been changed to provide that on October
1st during each year of the agreement, the City would increase the maximum rate of
each classification by five percent (5%). The City would provide a five percent (5%)
across the board wage increase to all bargaining unit members. Further the Article
provides that on the employee's anniversary date, after the employee receives a score
of "meets standards" on the performance appraisal, the employee would receive an
additional five percent (5%) merit increase.
The union wouldlike to return to the "pass/fair' performance appraisal system that was
in place prior to this past year. The union is not happy about how this past performance
appraisal system turned out, and Ms. Munley felt that it did not work. Language has
been added that if an employee were at the maximum rate, they would receive the
wage increase in a lump-sum bonus.
Employees would also be afforded a 1% health care relief.
Mr. Hawkins noted that this would only apply to employees who were paying for
additional family health coverage. This should not apply to single employees who do not
pay for their health care coverage.
Mr. Lee stated that the City did not want to go back to the prior method used for
performance appraisal and he viewed this as a form of regressing. He acknowledged
that some problems arose with this current system that they are addressing. Also, the
City is aware that supervisors need more training in dealing with the performance
appraisals. Mr. Lee noted that Ms. Munley referred to a system that was in place in
Riviera Beach where the union was involved from the ground up in the development of
an appraisal process and this is something the City may be willing to look at.
Mr. Lee noted that the City is aware that the supervisors and managers need retraining
and is currently working on this to improve the process. They are aware of the
concerns that have been expressed by employees and the union and Human
Resources has brought in an Assistant Human Resource Director who will be focusing
on performance evaluations. Mr. Lee was not in favor of going back to the pass/fail
system.
Mr. Hawkins stated that it was the intent to include union representation in the revision
of the process to make the necessary improvements to the performance appraisal
program. The two greatest issues that need to be dealt with are the pay issues and
whether the program was fair. Mr. Hawkins recognized that there is a lack of trust
among employees because they feel that they have been treated unfairly and this
needs to be rectified. Mr. Hawkins noted that a class and pay study will be undertaken
in the next few years and at that time the entire pay plan will be studied and reviewed.
With regard to the cost of living adjustment (market adjustment), Mr. Hawkins
acknowledged that the employees need to be kept apprised how this is applied and how
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Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 2:1., 2003
it relates to their performance evaluation. Mr. Hawkins also felt that the pay-for-
performance can work, and he was not in favor of doing away with this program.
Ms. Munley felt that last year was the worst year for employees as far as wages were
concerned and that people received less money than they ever did. Ms. Munley would
like to have a commitment in writing that if the managers and supervisors are not up to
par on the program and held accountable to do the job correctly, employees should be
given a defined raise.
Ms. Munley inquired when the next performance evaluation is scheduled and Mr. Lee
stated that it was April 1st. Ms. Munley requested that during the process when
supervisors and managers are being retrained, she would like a guarantee that the
employees would not be harmed again. Mr. Hawkins also did not want to see
employees harmed again, but pointed out that things take time.
Mr. Taylor requested that employees be given a guaranteed fair market adjustment
raise and that employees be informed what this adjustment would be. He suggested
that the extra percentage would come from the performance appraisal. He pointed out
that morale was Iow and he feels that employees were deprived of a livable wage
adjustment. Mr. Hawkins acknowledged that the supervisors did not explain the
performance evaluations correctly that resulted in a lot of misinformation being
disseminated among the employees.
Mr. Lee explained that the City has a fiduciary responsibility to project what the
increases would be, but he did feel that market adjustments need to be accounted for
within the evaluation system. Mr. Lee responded to the remark made that managers
were told not to rate people over a certain amount. He stated that this is not correct and
acknowledged that this is a management problem and this is not how the system was
intended to work.
Ms. Munley inquired what the market adjustment was for the Fire Department and Mr.
Hawkins said he could find this out for her. Ms. Munley requested a copy of the Fire
Department Collective Bargaining Agreement and Mr. Lee said that he would provide
this. Mr. Hawkins stated that now that all the issues are out in the open it is important to
find ways to improve the system.
Ms. Munley said that the union has always tried to work with the City in making things
better for the City and the workers, yet the City turned around and gave other
employees more money than the union workers received. She pointed out that while
union employees received 3%, non-union city employees received 3~%. Ms. Munley
reiterated that it would be beneficial to do some interest-based bargaining and Mr.
Hawkins agreed with this.
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Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 21, 2003
Mr. Lee noted that in the past the contract was tied in with other City policies and he felt
that this needed to be reinstated so that there are not "ten different policies" within the
City that need to be administered.
Mr. Smith felt that the performance appraisal system was too time consuming and took
hundreds of hours to do in larger departments. He felt that this was a waste of the
City's money.
In summary, Mr. Hawkins stated that the City was going to work with the supervisors to
get them prepared to do the performance appraisals. They anticipate working with the
supervisors next week to familiarize them with the problems that need to be dealt with
and some supervisors will be spoken to on a one-on-one basis.
It was suggested that the performance issue be separated from the contract and dealt
with separately. Mr. Lee pointed out that they could not agree on the contract until the
money issues were resolved. Mr. Hawkins did not rule this out, but he felt that the
issues would be addressed and worked out. If this does not happen, then this could be
a way to go.
Ms. Munley requested to caucus on some items at 3:10 p.m.
The negotiations resumed at 3:35 p.m.
Ms. Munley stated that the Articles that have no changes could be give TA:
Article 15 -
Article 26 -
Article 28 -
Article 30
Article 31 -
Jury Duty
Pension
Substance Abuse
Probationary Period
Bonus Days
TA was placed on those articles, along with the date of August 21,2003.
Ms. Munley stated that they agreed with the following revised articles that included the
strikes and underlines:
Article 2
Article 6
Article 8
Recognition
Representation of the City
Bulletin Boards
TA was placed on those articles, along with the date of August 21,2003.
Mr. Lee presented copies of the TA Articles to Mr. Hawkins, Ms. Munley and the
Recording Secretary for the record.
Meeting Minutes
Blue Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
August 2]., 2003
With regard to Article 1,"Preamble" that included the strikes and underlines, Ms. Munley
preferred the language that the Union presented for Article 1. She also was not
prepared to T^ Article 3, "Rights of Employees", Article 4, "Strikes", and Article 5, "Non-
discrimination."
Ms. Munley would like to discuss Article 7, Union Representation and Article 19,
"Holidays," at greater length at another date.
With regard to Article 33,"Duration", Ms. Munley questioned why the City changed from
the requested 3-year contract. Mr. Hawkins said that they would still like to have a 3-
year contract, but thought that the union had some reservations. It was agreed that this
would be discussed with the compensation issues.
Next Meeting Date
The next meeting will take place on Thursday, September 4th at 1:00 p.m.
Ms. Munley said that they should have a final proposal ready at that date.
Adjournment
There being no further business, the collectively bargaining negotiation session
concluded.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara M. Madden
Recording Secretary
(August 29, 2003)