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Minutes 10-30-03 MINUTES OF THE COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS BLUE COLLAR WORKERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, HELD AT 1:30 P.M. ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2003 IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: For the City: For NCF&O: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources Sharon Munley, President of Local 1227 Bob Kruper, Union Steward Mike Osborn, Union Steward Don Roberts, Union Steward Richard Smith, Union Steward Richard Stone, Union Steward John Wolcott, Union Steward Openinq Mr. Lee called the meeting to order at 1:40 p.m. A sign in sheet was circulated. Mr. Lee distributed an updated matrix. Approval of Minutes of October 21, 2003 After reading the minutes, Ms. Munley requested that the following changes be made: · On Page 3, last paragraph, she did not think that she said the words "fired on the spot." She thought that she would have said, "could be fired." · On Page 6, under"Authorized Absence from Work" this language was discussed at the white-collar negotiations and not at the blue-collar session. · On Page 10 with regard to adding Hepatitis B and C shots, this should also apply to pumping station and parks employees and any employee that needs it. Mr. Kruper pointed out that on Page 7 it states that "The stewards mentioned that the Sanitation employees wore anything but City-issued hats, and Mr. Hawkins stated that he would look into that." Mr. Kruper said it was not the "employees," it was the "Sanitation Management." Mr. Stone referred to the first full paragraph on Page 7 that stated, "Later in the meeting, Mr. Hawkins agreed, at the Union's request, to revisit the issue of green versus blue with Mr. Bressner, particularly if the City goes to a uniform cleaning service, which it is Meeting Minutes Blue Collar Union Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida October 30, 2003 considering." Mr. Stone inquired if Mr. Hawkins had an opportunity to speak to Mr. Bressner regarding uniforms. Mr. Hawkins responded that Mr. Bressner did not have a problem with changing the color to blue. Ms. Munley asked if the Article on Uniforms had been TA'd and Mr. Hawkins responded that it had not. Mr. Stone referred to the paragraph "Basic Work Week and Overtime" on Page 12. Mr. Stone was under the impression that vacation and sick time would count as time worked for overtime computation, but Mr. Hawkins did not recall this. Mr. Stone asked Mr. Hawkins if he had an opportunity to check into this since he thought that Mr. Hawkins had agreed to restore sick and vacation time. Mr. Hawkins responded that he did not recall this. There were no other comments regarding the minutes. Review of Status of Negotiations Ms. Munley felt that they were close on the Uniform Article and that it just needed to be rewritten. Uniforms Mr. Lee noted that the Union was agreeable to utilizing a uniform cleaning service if the uniforms were changed to blue. Ms. Munley pointed out that employees would receive a jacket bi-annually and hats as necessary. The last paragraph of the existing contract would be revised to state: City uniforms are for City job use only. Bargaining unit members agree that they will not wear the uniforms in any other place except to and from work, and at work. City uniforms are not to be worn on outside jobs, to be given to non-city employees, or worn in any public places that serve alcoholic beverages. Employees are not allowed to purchase or consume alcoholic beverages while in uniform." Ms. Munley recommended that the following language be added: "Effective January 2005 the City shall have a uniform cleaning service and at that time uniforms would be blue." Mr. Hawkins said he could not establish a date. He pointed out that the City is considering doing this and if the City hires a cleaning service, the City uniforms would change to blue. MeeUng Minutes Blue Collar Union Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida October 30, 2003 Ms. Munley also suggested the wording that "A committee will determine items that employees may opt out with a medical note." This would pertain to employees that might have some kind of skin problem and could not utilize the uniform cleaning service. Ms. Munley said that this would be discussed during the caucus. With regard to Safety, Ms. Munley stated that they would write it up and put it with Safety and Health. Mr. Lee inquired about the shoe item and Mr. Hawkins stated that this would be included with Safety and Health and would be one Article. With regard to Unauthorized Absence from Work Mr. Hawkins thought that this had been TA'd. Ms. Munley noted that this was discussed at the white-collar session. Mr. Hawkins stated that they needed to come up with some language. Ms. Munley recalled that it had to do with just cause and how long an employee could be "awol" from work. Mr. Stone noted that this was included in the October 20th minutes. Mr. Hawkins stated that he would have the City Attorney rewrite the language, and it would be the Human Resource Director that would determine whether it was for just cause. Mr. Hawkins noted that currently if a person is absent from work for three days and does not call in, they are considered "awol." Ms. Munley felt it should be appropriate if a person is unable to call in and a friend or relative calls in for that person, it should be acceptable. Ms. Munley suggested that the Article be changed to read: "A bargaining Unit Member who is absent from work without authorized leave for a period of more than three days and who was physically unable to notify the employer or have another person notify the employer shall not be deemed to have abandoned his or her job and shall not be separated from employment with the City. Separation of this type shall not be considered a disciplinary separation." Mr. Hawkins suggested that the following language also be added: "The employee may submit information explaining the absence to the Human Resources Director who will determine if just cause existed for the absence." Ms. Munley said that they would look at this when they caucus. 3 Meeting Minutes Blue Collar Union Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida October 30, 2003 Compensatory Time Mr. Hawkins thought that they were close on this article. He pointed out that it was agreed that an employee would have 60 days to take his compensatory time. If he did not take it after 60 days, he would automatically get paid. Ms. Munley said that their Section 14 of Article 10 would be used for Compensatory Time and it would be changed to 60 days. Mr. Stone inquired if Mr. Hawkins spoke to the City Attorney. Mr. Hawkins stated that he did and it was agreed that 60 days was a reasonable period of time. Mr. Stone also inquired if compensatory time could be used the same week it was earned. Mr. Hawkins stated that it could be used during the same pay period. Ms. Munley pointed out that it had been discussed that it could be used the same week for employees who worked extra long shifts and Mr. Hawkins agreed with that. Ms. Munley requested that the City make these changes and pointed out that the language was on page 19 of the Union document. Mr. Hawkins agreed to have these changes made. Transfers Ms. Munley pointed out that the City's transfer article did not include how the employee would get paid. Mr. Lee noted that they discussed the definition: (i) going from one position to another at the same level is basically a lateral; (ii) going from a lower level to a higher level is a promotion, and (iii) going from a higher level to a lower level is a demotion. The language reads if a person goes to a lower position they would retain their same rate of pay, unless they were at the max at that level. Ms. Munley inquired if the probationary item was new and are people placed on probation when they are transferred to a new job, and Mr. Lee stated that they are. Further Ms. Munley inquired how often demotions occur and Mr. Lee stated that often this is a voluntary move. Ms. Munley requested time to caucus at 2:35 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:25 p.m. Unauthorized Absence from Work Ms. Munley said that they were ready to TA this Article. Messrs. Hawkins and Lee read the new language and agreed with it. Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd the Article and Ms. Munley said that she would have it retyped. 4 Meeting Minutes Blue Collar Union Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida October 30, 2003 Mr. Stone inquired if all the TA Articles would be brought back in final form for review. Mr. Hawkins responded that an entire meeting would be devoted to this. Ms. Munley would like the T^ items furnished to everyone prior to the meeting so that people could come prepared to discuss them. Grievances Mr. Hawkins stated that progressive discipline has been extrapolated from the PPM and they would like to have discipline as a stand-alone article that outlines the grievance and arbitration process. By doing it this way, it would avoid confusion of the disciplinary process with any other process that is subject to grievance under the Agreement. Section 4 in the white-collar contract alludes to discipline. The City would like to take Section 4 as it relates to the grievance process and move that over to the Article dealing with progressive discipline. This would lay out the entire process from beginning to end all in one Article. Mr. Hawkins stated that the grievance and arbitration procedure may be exactly the same, but the City wants to make sure that the disciplinary process stands alone so that there is no confusion from anything else in the contract when it comes to discipline. Ms. Munley inquired if a disciplinary action arose based on another violation of the contract, would they have to grieve under ^rticles 10 and 11. Mr. Hawkins stated that discipline is discipline, regardless of what the charge is. If a person receives a written reprimand it would be treated under the Discipline Article. Mr. Stone felt that doing it this way was more confusing. Mr. Hawkins stated that they are trying to separate disciplinary matters from all other matters in the contract. Mr. Lee felt that doing it this way would clear things up. Ms. Munley thought it could be fixed without making it more confusing or creating a stumbling block. Ms. Munley said that she has never seen it done this way. Mr. Hawkins said that he has looked at other local NCF&O contracts and finds them confusing. Ms. Munley said that this is how it is done everywhere and that there is always a Grievance Article. Mr. Hawkins agreed with this and stated that they are merely trying to make discipline its own article and not mix discipline in with grievance procedures as it relates to other articles. Mr. Lee stated that the City Attorney read over the blue-collar grievance procedure and stated that before an issue with an employee goes to arbitration, you have to go all the way through the grievance procedure. Ms. Munley did not think that it was necessary to have two articles to express this. She suggested language that would read, "terminations would immediately go to arbitration," or "terminations would immediately go to the City Manager's level." She did not think it made sense to go to the supervisor, because he has no power. 5 Meeting Minutes Blue Collar Union Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida October 30, 2003 Ms. Munley noted that even if there is no mention of a "class action," their attorney feels that this is a "given," because there is case law that if there are more than two people affected it is considered "class action." Ms. Munley pointed out that the current Section 4 was included at the request of Attorney Cherof. She felt it would cause more confusion because they would have to look in two places when dealing with discipline. Mr. Stone inquired if the City was looking for the same grievance and arbitration procedure for discipline and non-discipline. Mr. Hawkins stated they would be very similar, but not exactly the same. Mr. Stone inquired why the City wanted to separate them, if they were going to utilize the same procedure for both applications. To Mr. Hawkins, it was individual logic. He would like to have discipline, grievance and arbitration all in one Article and then a separate Article for all other matters. Ms. Munley noted that the next meeting is November 13th and asked Mr. Hawkins to bring these two new Articles to that meeting. Mr. Hawkins said that he would provide them. Next Meetin~ and Adjournment The meeting properly adjourned at 3:45 p.m. The next meeting Thursday, November 13, 2003 at 1:30 p.m. in Conference Room B. is scheduled for Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (November 10, 2003) 6