Loading...
Minutes 01-14-04AFTERNOON SESSION OF JOINT WHITE AND BLUE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, HELD ON WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 14, 2004 AT 1:30 P.M. IN THE POLICE AND FIRE TRAINING ROOM, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O: White Collar: Blue Collar: Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227 Debbie Lytle, Steward, Utilities Michael Ricard, Steward, Building Division Bob Kruper, Union Steward Mike Osborn, Union Steward Don Roberts, Union Steward Richard Smith, Union Steward Richard Stone, Union Steward Mike Taylor, Union Steward John Wolcott, Union Steward For the City: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 1:50 p.m. Ms. Munley noted that originally this afternoon session was scheduled to be a blue- collar session only. However, after hearing the presentation this morning on performance evaluations, which was very helpful, she would like to have both white and blue-collar representatives present this afternoon as well. Since viewing the presentation, they have determined that the system is not as bad as they had originally thought and felt that it did have a lot of good points. However, the Union still feels that there are a lot of flaws that need to be addressed. Ms. Munley stated that they would like to make a wage proposal for this contract that would include keeping the system in place and using the forms currently being used for this year only. The Union is okay with a three-year contract, but would be willing to open wages in the second year. Because of all the problems this year, Ms. Munley felt that people were not graded properly. She would like to have the system cleaned up. They are proposing a 5% across the board increase and 5% if a person "meets expectations", as defined in this morning's presentation. Meeting Minutes White and Blue Collar Boynton Beach, Florida January 14, 2004 Ms. Munley also stated that the Union wants a labor-management committee to start up immediately to fix the problems. Most employees are totally unaware of the definition of "meets standards." Ms. Munley also stated that if a person fails, they should be re- evaluated in 60 days and if they pass, they would receive their increase retroactive to October 1st. If an employee is reevaluated in 60 days and still does not meet standards, he would lose the retroactive pay. The Union would like to raise the maximum by 5% and for everyone to receive a lump sum. Also, the Union would like all re-grades and reclassifications to come to the table from now on because there have been re-grades that the Union never knew about. Ms. Munley reiterated that the Union was not against people receiving money, but they would like the courtesy of the City coming to the Union first. Ms. Munley felt that the meeting scheduled for the blue-collar session tomorrow should be cancelled since they are presenting a proposal to the City. There are still approximately 13 articles remaining that need to be approved and she will put them together for the next meeting. Mr. Hawkins stated that he is concerned because it appears from the Union's view that all workers appear to be outstanding or above average and deserve a 3% to 4% increase. Ms. Munley stated that it appears this way because they do not know how the City determines when an employee exceeds expectations. Discussion took place on how an employee is viewed as "average." Ms. Munley stated that if someone does the job that they were hired for every day and does not do anything they are not supposed to do, and shows up every day, that person should be considered to" meet expectations." Ms. Munley stated that they are proposing a 5% increase because a lot of people last year only received 1% to 1.5% and that money could never be made up for those employees. She stated that they are willing to put all the bad things aside that happened and would like to go with the 5% and 5% this year. They might be willing the following year to consider 3% and 3%. Mr. Hawkins thought it was important to come to an agreement on what "meets standards." Mr. Kruper inquired who was supposed to perform the performance appraisals. Mr. Hawkins stated that in some departments the supervisors sat down individually with the employees and in other departments it could involve both the supervisor and the foreman if that employee had more than one supervisor. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that in Communications the appraisals were done by more than one person because there was more than one supervisor. Ms. Munley felt that if the pay for performance was done properly, it could work and it would be good for everyone. However, she did not feel that they were at this point yet. 2 Meeting Minutes White and Blue Collar Boynton Beach, Florida 3anuary 14, 2004 She also stated that they would be willing to work with the City through labor- management on how to educate people on what is a "meets expectation" worker. Mr. Hawkins inquired how they would go about accomplishing this. Ms. Munley recommended that they could use the City's current standards and anyone below or above standards would have to have documentation in their file that backs this up. Mr. Hawkins agreed with this, but stated that the City needs to know when documentation has been provided and that it has been accepted as part of the package. Ms. Munley had no problem with this as well. Ms. Munley suggested that once the contract gets signed, the parties should immediately get together to work on the issues so that by next April 1st everybody will know where they stand and what is expected of them. Mr. Hawkins said that he would present the Union's proposal to the City Manager. Next Meetinq It was decided that the next meeting would be scheduled sometime during the week of January 26th. At that time all parties would be present and the topic of discussion would be wages. Adjournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 2:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (Janua~ 14,2003) 3