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Minutes 09-04-03 MINUTES OF THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS, WHITE COLLAR WORKERS, AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, HELD ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2003 AT 9:30 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227 Debbie Lytle, Chief Steward, Utilities Michael Richard, Steward, Building Division For the City: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources O~)enin~ Mr. Hawkins called the meeting to order at 9:40 a.m. and asked everyone present to identify themselves for the record. Approval of Minutes (August 21, 2003) There were no corrections or additions to the minutes. Mr. Hawkins requested that the record reflect that the minutes stand approved as presented. Discussion Mr. Hawkins distributed an updated matrix. Mr. Hawkins stated that they had intended to hand out the City's proposal today, but he only received it this morning and has not had an opportunity to look at it. After Mr. Hawkins and Mr. Lee have an opportunity to review the proposal, they will send a copy to the Union representatives. Mr. Hawkins reported that John Jordan would be joining the meeting. Mr. Jordan has been looking into the City of Riviera Beach's performance appraisal system and will be reporting on this. Mr. Lee noted that an updated matrix will be distributed at each meeting that will show the status of the various articles. Mr. Lee reviewed the updated matdx as follows: Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 Preamble Recognition Rights of Employees Strikes Non-Discrimination Union Representation Open for discussion. There has been no agreement reached on this Article as the Union indicated they wanted to do a further review of this Article This was TA'd There has been no agreement on these three Articles. The Union would like to keep the same language and the City would like to delete this language. The City noted that this language is already in the statutes and there is no additional need to include it in the contract. The Union wants to include these Articles so that members would have a place to read them. Open for discussion. Both the City and Union had some modifications on the language and this could be discussed today. Bulletin Board This was TA'd Progressive Discipline These Articles are deferred. Grievance Procedures Basic Work Week & Overtime This Article is deferred Compensatory Time Sick Leave Funeral Leave Leave of Absence Collective Bargaining Work Breaks Transfers Sick Leave Donations Reclassification & Wage Adjustment Jury Duty These Articles have been deferred and will be discussed at a later date These are new Articles and are open for discussion. The City would like to defer work breaks to a later date This was TA'd Maintenance of Conditions The City would like to defer this Article Seniority, Layoff & Recall Job Posting & Bidding Recruitment & Selection Holidays Vacation Wages Safety and Health The City indicated no change. The Union had some language modifications and this is open for discussion These two Articles were deferred Both the City and the Union would like to modify the language and this is open for discussion The City requested no change on this Article and the Union wants to modify the language. This Article is open for discussion Deferred to a later date Open for discussion 2 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 General Provision Savings Clause Dues Deduction Pension Uniforms Substance Abuse Management Rights Deferred to a later date No change, but the City wanted to move the Article to the end of the contract and this is open for discussion The City wanted to remain with the current language and the Union would like to modify the language. This is open for discussion This was TA'd with no changes Deferred to a later date There was no discussion and the parties could decide on this Article today. Ms. Lytle stated that the Union requested a copy of Ordinance No. 92- 51 dealing with Substance Abuse. Mr. Lee will )rovide this and the Article will be deferred Deferred to a later date Probationary Period This was TA'd Bonus Increase Deferred City Manager Incentive Program Bonus Days Deferred No change, but remains open for discussion. Longevity Benefit Deferred to a later date Duration Both the City and Union would like to modify the language of this Article and it is open for discussion Ms. Munley pointed out that the Union would like the Article "Maintenance of Conditions" to remain status quo. Report on Riviera Beach Mr. Jordan reported that he spoke with Aaron Fields, who is revising the performance evaluation system for the City of Riviera Beach and currently it continues to be a work in progress. They are purchasing an on-line base system and are looking at different ways that they are going to tie in merit increases with the performance evaluations. They also have to determine how employees, who do not have access to a computer, would be able to utilize this system. Ms. Munley suggested that Mr. Jordan attend the meetings at Riviera Beach to determine what is taking place. Also, staff is participating and this is a negotiated expectation. Ms. Munley noted that on October 1st, employees would know what "meeting your expectation" is. Mr. Jordan will continue to work with Mr. Fields to see how Riviera Beach is progressing. 3 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 Mr. Ricard inquired when the new system could be implemented in Boynton Beach. Mr. Jordan stated that it would be unrealistic at this point for the City to change systems mid-year and they are looking at having this in place next year. Employees will also be included in the development of the new system. Mr. Hawkins reported that he would be making a presentation to senior management on Friday about the process that will be undertaken to re-train supervisors, which will be mandatory. Also they would be speaking with Department heads to go over their understanding of how the process is supposed to work and their responsibilities in holding supervisors accountable for conducting department evaluations. This will take place on September 11th. There will be two dates for re-training supervisors on how to do evaluations and how to work through the current evaluation procedure. Ms. Lytle thought that there had been discussion about pulling this from the contract because they would not agree to a work in progress. Ms. Munley did not think this was possible. She pointed out that it was in the contract and the contract stated when it was supposed to be implemented, and it never happened. Ms. Munley did not think that Mr. Hawkins could unilaterally decide what is going to happen after September 30th when the current contract expires. Ms. Munley said that they would not be guinea pigs for another year. Ms. Munley would like to see an across-the-board increase while the changes in the performance evaluation system are being developed. Mr. Lee did not think that the City's current performance system compared to others is lacking that much and what is needed most is proper training of the people doing the performance evaluations. Ms. Munley read from the contract that stated, "employees would be evaluated in an unbiased and fair manner." She felt that a minimum of 15% of City employees will never recover from not getting a fair appraisal or receiving an equitable raise. Ms. Munley stated that anyone who received a "did not meet standards" evaluation should have something in their file indicating that they were informed why they were falling behind and what was expected of that employee to bring his or her standards up to par. Mr. Hawkins noted that the City needed to have a performance instrument to evaluate employees' work and the one the City has can work, but it does need improvement through proper training of supervisors. With regard to documentation of employees' performances, he felt that most departments could produce this documentation. Mr. Jordan agreed that to throw the current system away is totally unrealistic. Ms. Munley totally disagreed with this assessment. Ms. Lytle pointed out that of the raises given out, only four people received a score of "4" and they were all non-Union employees. There were no Union employees that received a "4." Mr. Jordan pointed out that employees that fall into the category of "meets expectations" would receive a "2%" raise. Ms. Munley questioned how it was possible that the largest percentage of employees of the City belonging to bargaining 4 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 units, not one person received a "4." Ms. Munley felt that it was time for the Union to start pulling the information from employees' files to determine why their performance appraisals were so Iow. Ms. Lytle stated that the Fire Department employees received an across the board "pass or fail" score. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that the Fire Department employees received a merit percentage of 0 to 5. Mr. Hawkins was not certain if this could be applied to the general employees. The Fire Department wage adjustments were done in two phases. The first phase was a tiered system of a performance evaluation of 0 to 5. All Fire Department employees did receive an across the board market adjustment built in. Mr. Hawkins stated that if the Union was seeking a guaranteed, across the board, market adjustment, this is a wage situation that was agreed to be discussed later on. The issue of doing away with the performance system is not the same. Ms. Lytle would like to have the supervisors totally trained before there are any more performance appraisals done. Mr. Hawkins also noted that next time some of the supervisors that did the evaluations might not be doing them. Ms. Lytle said that the Union last time recommended that a panel be used to do the evaluations to avoid favoritism and Mr. Hawkins stated that they would be looking at this. Mr. Hawkins noted that the supervisors that did not perform the evaluations properly are known and this is being addressed. Ms. Munley requested that Mr. Hawkins bring something to the next meeting to show how the City is addressing this. Mr. Hawkins said that he would be able to show the City's plan to deal with this particular issue. Ms. Munley stressed that they needed a safety net, and Mr. Hawkins acknowledged this. Mr. Lee noted that the Fire Chief was the first department head to institute the performance evaluations in his department. In order to make it work, he sat down with each of his supervisors every time that supervisor evaluated a firefighter to make sure that it was done properly. However, the City has 900 employees, and this kind of involvement by the other department heads would be very difficult. Mr. Hawkins noted that this would be an ongoing discussion and he understands what the Union is looking for from "the salary and compensation" portion of the agreement and he would like the Union to think of this as a tiered-type scenario. Mr. Jordan left the meeting Recess was declared at 10:35 a.m. The Meeting reconvened at 10:45 a.m. 5 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 Ms. Munley said that they were willing to defer further discussion on the performance appraisals until the next meeting. Ms. Munley requested to provide an update on the information that had been previously furnished to them. In Article 11, the section dealing with "Transfers", the second paragraph has been deleted. Ms. Munley asked about the status of this paragraph. Mr. Hawkins responded that this would become a separate article. Ms. Munley pointed out that the paragraph dealing with how an employee gets paid would still be needed. 2. Sick Leave Donation - they would like all language dealing with sick leave to be in one article. The Article dealing with Holidays comes from the Blue Collar contract. Mr. Ricard stated that a lot of information provided came from the Blue Collar contract. Ms. Munley pointed out that White Collar holidays are different from Blue Collar holidays. The Insurance Article is okay. Ms. Munley noted that this came out of General Provisions. Even though Insurance would become a separate article, Ms. Munley would not like the General Provisions Article totally eliminated. 5. With regard to Dues Deduction, they would like to include COPE as well. 6. Substance Abuse - after they see the Ordinance, Ms. Munley felt that they would agree with this. 7. Duration - they want to wait to see what happens with the remainder of the contract. 8. Posting of the Agreement - Ms. Munley did not think it was necessary to place the agreement on the web. 9. Maintenance of Conditions - they would like that to remain status quo. 10. Work Breaks - this language is also from the Blue Collar contract. 11. Collective Bargaining - this is the same language in Article 7 and the remainder of Article 7 is missing, which is Union Representation. 12. Union Representation - they were not agreeable to decreasing their numbers or the time that they are allowed to do Union business. Mr. Hawkins stated that they were going to explore setting up some kind of pool for people to donate time. 6 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida September 4, 200 13. Personnel Files - Ms. Munley stated that this was okay, but they would like to see the strikes and underscores. Summary Mr. Hawkins noted that the Work Breaks Article needs work and requested that the Union provide language on this. Ms. Munley stated that she will be in Washington, D.C. on Monday and requested that Ms. Lytle and Mr. Ricard be furnished with copies of the City's proposal. Next Meetin_q It was agreed that the next session would be held on Thursday, September 11th at 10:00 a.m. A tentative date for the Blue Collar would be the same date at 1:30 p.m., but this will be confirmed at today's Blue Collar session. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 11:10 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (September 5, 2003) 7