Minutes 09-11-03 t-tINUTES OF THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN
THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREt4EN & OILERS~ WHITE COLLAR
WORKERS~ AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH~ HELD ON THURSDAYf
SEPTEMBER 11~ 2003 AT 10:00 A. f4. IN CONFERENCE ROOf4 B~
CITY HALL~ BOYNTON BEACH~ FLORIDA
Present
For NCF&O
For the City:
Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227
Debbie Lytle, Chief Steward, Utilities
Michael Ricard, Steward, Building Division
Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager
Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources
Introductions
Mr. Hawkins opened the meeting and a sign-in sheet was passed around. Each person
introduced himself or herself.
Approval of lUlinutes of September 4~ 2003 I~leeting
These minutes were not approved because Mr. Ricard had not received them and Ms.
rvlunley wanted an opportunity to review them. Extra copies were provided to the
participants who wanted them. Mr. Hawkins requested that the September ~,, 2003
meeting minutes, pages 2 and 3, be used as the matrix for this meeting since it outlined
what had happened so far.
Discussion
Ms. Lytle was concerned about the way the City was applying her time spent on Union
business. The actual hours spent were correct but the totals were very much "off." After
discussion, Mr. Hawkins suggested that Ms. Lytle sit down with Dilcy Hurtado in Finance
to discuss this, since it seemed to be a computer issue.
City's Proposal
IVlr. Lee distributed copies of the City's proposal and made an extra copy since Ms. Lytle
could not print the one that was emailed to her due to technical difficulties with the
printer in her area.
Meeting Minutes
White Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
September 11, 2003
Mr. Hawkins remarked that the Articles and page numbers were supposed to be applied
to the document but that this had not yet happened.
Ms. Lytle commented on the Grievance and Arbitration procedures, page 1, where it
said: "Procedures regarding disciplinary action, including challenges to disciplinary
action, are controlled by the PPM and not by this agreement."
The Un/on asked for a hr~el caucus.
After the caucus, Ms. Munley stated that (after reviewing the proposal,) it seemed that
there would be an impasse and she asked if that was what the City wanted.
Mr. Hawkins stated that he was not going to talk about philosophy but was going to
explain where the City was coming from with the proposal. He was not trying to preach
at them, he was just trying to let them know what the City's position was so they would
not make any assumptions.
Mr. Ricard said it appeared to him that this was a "delay and conquer tactic." He said
that the City was not doing what it needed to do to keep its employees. Ms. Lytle
stated that the City was not doing what it told the Union it was going to do a month
ago. Ms. Lytle asked that the City provide them with the City's proposal, and provide
them with strikes and underlines. Mr. Ricard stated that this seemed to him to be a
delaying tactic to wait until the new Commission comes on - to let them handle it.
"There are 20 days until our contract is up. Negotiations got started late, the City said it
would be finished on time, and there is no way now that it will be finished before six
months, the way things are going."
Ms. Lytle stated that the City was giving them "blue collar stuff" on a white-collar
contract and that this was ineffective and inefficient. Mr. Ricard stated that the City
was wasting the time of the Union representatives. He felt that he had a responsibility
to his own work and that to delay this was to do a disservice to everyone concerned.
Ms. Munley stated that the Union needed to take the City's proposal and leave because
they had to have time to look at it. They did not need Mr. Hawkins to explain his ideas
on the proposal because the proposal was outrageous. "It says that challenges to
disciplinary action are controlled by the PPM and are not "grievable' or "arbitratable.'
That will never work."
Ms. Lytle stated that the tuition reimbursement was back to what it had been over
three years previously before a Memo of Understanding was reached.
Ms. Munley expressed annoyance with the lack of the strikes and underlines the Union
had asked for from the beginning. She said there were plenty of secretaries in the City
Meeting Minutes
White Collar Collective Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
September 11, 2003
and she could not understand why someone did not provide the strikes and underlines.
She stated that someone needed to "key in" the Union's agreement and provide the
Union with the City's position via strikes and underlines so they could see what the City
was doing.
Ms. Munley stated that it seemed like the City was trying to take away every right they
had and they were not "going there." She thought the meeting was over for the day.
They were going to put out information to the membership to tell them what the City
was doing. She said the proposal was outrageous. She stated, "You brought this to us
at the last week in August and we do not even have anything where we can actually
say we have anything. We have been here four times now. It's outrageous. We're
done."
Mr. Hawkins stated that with all due respect, they were not done until the City said
what it had to say. rvls. Munley stated, "We're done when I say." Mr. Hawkins said,
"No, we're not done yet. If you would like to leave you can leave but I'm going to say
what ! have to say on the record." Ms. Munley stated, "We're done, put it on the
record." Mr. Hawkins said, '5'ou're being disrespectful." Ms. Lytle stated, "You've been
disrespectful by doing this to us for two months. You're treating us as insignificant
employees; you're not honoring and respecting us, showing no integrity."
Mr. Lee stated, that as far as honor and respect, "honor and respect begins with sitting
down at the table and we are sitting down at the table. In previous negotiations, there
hasn't even been the sitting down at the table."
The Union representatives left the room before the City could discuss the issues on its
proposal.
Next Meeting Date
Unknown
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Collins
Recording Secretary
(091103)