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Minutes 02-12-04WHITE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, HELD ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2004 AT 9:00 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM C, WEST WING, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O: Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227 White Collar: Debbie Lytle, Steward, Utilities Michael Ricard, Steward, Building Division For the City: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 9:30 A.M. and a sign-in sheet was distributed. Minutes Approval - January 8 and January 14, 2004 There were no changes to the minutes. Review of Open Articles The Union provided the City with its revised proposal for each of the remaining open articles. The City will respond to the Union's proposals at the next meeting. The City also distributed a document containing the City's responses to various points in the Union's initial Wage proposal. The City's actual counterproposal will be presented at the next meeting. Grievance Procedures Ms. Munley indicated that a change had been made to Section 4 to show that a counseling memorandum was the same as a written warning. The rest of the article was the same as the Union had provided earlier. The Union proposal asks for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) as opposed to Mediation, Inc. Although in the current contract, the Union never used this option because mediators are not the same as arbitrators. Also, the proposal calls for matters to be heard within thirty days, which would be of benefit to all parties, but especially the employees. Mr. Hawkins agreed, stating that it would put pressure on both sides to resolve matters quickly. The expedited arbitration process was discussed since Mr. Bressner had suggested going straight to arbitration on grievances. The idea Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 of establishing an arbitration panel was discussed and the funneling to it of all matters that would come under arbitration. Ms. Munley stated that this was a common scenario up North where the panel rotates and both sides select them. It would be less expensive and quicker to set up such a panel and one of the sides should write up some language that is mutually agreeable. Anything beyond verbal warnings or counseling memos could be sent to the arbitration panel in addition to terminations. Ms. Munley stated that the Union issue at the previous day's meeting was that the Union had to be able to file a grievance so if there were a termination, it could be heard here. She stated that filing a grievance was what pushes it towards the arbitrator. Mr. Hawkins thought that this was just a perfunctory paperwork issue. Ms. Munley thought it would benefit the Union more. Mr. Hawkins agreed, stating that in his opinion, this was true due process. He did not have any problem with it. Ms. Munley will write some language to include these ideas. Transfers and Demotions Ms. Munley stated that transferring to a lower position is the same as accepting a voluntary demotion, but a person does not lose money unless he is over the maximum for the new, lower salary scale. If a demotion were the result of punitive action, the employee would lose money at the same rate, using the same formula, as occurred when he gained the promotion. Standby & Call Back The Union proposal asks for 1 hour of overtime pay for each day or portion thereof that an employee is assigned Standby beeper duty. This is already happening in the Crime Scene department. Also, employees placed on Standby shall be assigned a take-home vehicle appropriate for the completion of the task required of the employee should he/she be called back to work. Ms. Lytle confirmed that there was understanding on the point that once an employee is put on Standby status, the Call Back provisions would come into play when on the call. Sick Leave The Union proposal changes the amount of sick leave cash out from 80 to 120 hours. Also, the Union agreed to the City's proposal that employees may accumulate a maximum of 1040 sick leave hours; however, the Union proposal calls for unused hours to be paid out at 100% upon termination of employment with the City. Any accrued but unused sick leave hours beyond 1040 shall be transferred into the employee's Personal Leave Bank. Personal Leave hours may be utilized as necessary. Any unused Personal Leave hours may be cashed in upon termination with the City on a 2 to 1 2 Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 basis, or the full value of the hours may be used to purchase health care benefits should the termination be due to normal or disability retirement. Ms. Munley inquired whether the City provided health insurance for its retirees. Mr. Lee responded that the City provided retirees the benefit of obtaining the group rate for insurance but did not provide the insurance itself. Ms. Lytle wanted to remove the words "extraordinary circumstances of hardship" from Section E. She stated that management was allowed to do this for any or no reason at all, and they could do it annually, not once during the contract. Ms. Munley stated that this could be discussed and that if somebody had an extraordinary circumstance and was denied, it would be a grievance. Ms. Lytle said that a person could have more than one extraordinary circumstance during the term of the agreement. Ms. Munley stated that she read it that it was not to exceed 120 hours. The Union proposal put a title on Section 8, "Restricted Sick Leave." Workers Compensation The Union proposes that the language in this article be the same as in the existing contract. Light Duty The Union proposes that the language will remain the same as the existing language with the change that the available work will be within the City and not just within the Department. Funeral Leave The Union proposal originally included "life partner," but this has been eliminated from its current proposal. Maintenance of Conditions The Union proposes to retain the current language on this article. Holidays In Section 3, the words "or on the day the holiday is observed"are added after the word "holiday" in the first sentence. This is in regard to an employee who worked on Sunday, Christmas, but the City observed Christmas on Monday and so the employee missed out on the additional pay he would have received. 3 Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 Vacation The amount of cash out for emergencies or extraordinary cases of hardship is increased from 80 to 120 hours. Also, the cash out of sick time has the words and/or vacation time after sick in the first sentence. The total combined cash out of sick and/or vacation time in any year of the contract shall not exceed 120 hours. The employee may take advantage of this provision once during each year of this Agreement. Labor Manaqement Ms. Munley feels that it is important that a Labor/Management Committee be in place. The words "monthly within thirty day~' were added on line two after "meet." To overtime costs and standby in the third line was added, "costs and improve working conditions for bargaining unit employees." The last sentence dealing with meeting to discuss any problems relating to the changes made in the agreement regarding this article was stricken entirely. Although it is open for discussion, Ms. Munley stated that there could be one Labor Management Committee with two white collar and two blue- collar representatives, or there could be individual blue or white meetings. Mr. Hawkins suggested, "as needed" for frequency of meeting on this Committee. Another addition to this article was the statement, "All reclassifications shall be presented to and signed off on by the Union prior to their implementation." Wages The Union wanted to address this article at the end. Emerqency Pay The Union proposes that the language in this article will remain the same as the existing language. Employees Assigned to Training Duties This article was part of Basic Work Week but Ms. Munley pulled it out and made it a separate article because it was that way on the matrix. Working in a Higher Classification Ms. Munley said this was also part of Basic Work Week and the language would remain the same as the existing language. Certification Pay Ms. Munley stated that this policy had not been applied fairly. The City said that the decision of the department head would be final in the matter of getting $500 for each Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 certification or license. The Union wants to be able to challenge the department head's decision if it is negative. Mr. Hawkins said this was fine and that the Union could put in language with which it felt comfortable. In his opinion, if the department head knows what the certification or license or course is and signs off on it, then there should be no question about the payment of this money. Ms. Munley asked if appropriate licenses and certifications were posted in the individual departments. Mr. Lee did not think that they were posted, but thought that there should be a list of acceptable courses, certifications and licenses and that the City should urge employees to reach for these goals. Mr. Hawkins said that the certifications that would increase a person's professional capabilities were the ones that the City had to put on a list so people would be able to ascertain a meaningful career path and means of advancement. He commented that this had been done in the law enforcement and firefighting fields for a long time. The Union expressed a strong need for, and interest in, meaningful career paths for the white-collar employees. Mr. Hawkins understood and agreed with this and stated that the City had made strides towards that goal. They had developed a progressive path to become a supervisor, for example, and hoped to implement the course outline in the very near future. Ms. Lytle thought that if a person completed this training and there were no openings in the supervisory path, the employee should still receive something like an increase in pay or a $500 bonus initiative. Mr. Hawkins thought that was a very good idea and stated that the City would look into it. Mr. Lee reiterated that the Professional Development Department was putting together professional development programs whereby employees could advance. He agreed with the comments that had been made thus far about this matter. He explained a pilot program that was being undertaken as a cooperative effort between representatives from Utilities and Human Resources to define and improve the career paths for Equipment Operators. After much mutual effort and communication, the group settled on having different levels of Equipment Operator based on years of experience, number of hours on a piece of machinery, certifications, licenses, and similar criteria. The program is almost in final form, but a compensation scheme has to be incorporated into it also. The program/process will be presented to the City Manager's Leadership Team and the Union will be asked to ratify it. Mr. Lee stated that this program should go Citywide in the various departments. He said that with this process, employees and supervisors would be able to communicate about performance evaluations and job advancement. Ms. Munley thought this was a good thing. She asked that the City spend some time in 2004 considering the clerical jobs that are held primarily by women and the fact that at present, there is no career path for the clerical workers and no compensation for trying to improve their skills. The technical male workers, on the other hand, have many 5 Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 opportunities to get licenses and certificates for which they receive compensation. Also, there should be two scales: 1) at expectation is when you come in and do what you were hired to do; 2) taking courses to improve your ability to serve the City should be encouraged and compensated, and should be "above expectations." Ms. Munley felt that the City should start thinking along those lines. Usually, there is very little opportunity for clerical workers to advance and get the $500 compensation the male, technical workers receive. There needs to be a career path that is specific to clerical workers. Mr. Hawkins agreed, and said that the City needed to look at doing that. Mr. Lee commented that everyone was looking for the fully competent worker. He did not believe that people should be stuck in clerical jobs, nor kept there because they were good at it and discouraged from trying to advance. Mr. Hawkins wanted it to be clear that the City was discussing this on a regular basis and that this was why they had hired a professional like Ms. Spoerri to handle the professional development program. He agreed that there needed to be a defined career path for clerical people also - some kind of "rainbow" to which they could aspire. Ms. Munley said the opportunities had to be handled fairly and that approvals should be given to help people advance. They should know what criteria they have to meet to move from "here" to "there." Even if spaces are not available for promotions, the person who has developed to the point of being able to handle a higher-level job should "have their name in." Mr. Hawkins said that if a person entered into the supervisory career path, for example, had good evaluations, and was ready to become a supervisor and no job was available at that level, it might be that they should get some type of benefit for those certifications. He said the City would continue to work on this. Ms. Munley questioned whether the Labor/Management team could work on this, and Mr. Hawkins thought it could help, particularly in the clerical/administrative fields. There are classes in the Professional Development outline now that clerical people can take to build their skills and abilities. However, they need to take this a step further. If an Administrative Assistant wants to become an accountant, that could be identified as a career path and it could be set up in such a way that the City could work with the college to get that person in school and offer tuition reimbursement. Collateral Documents Ms. Munley said that they all contain working conditions language so this would have to be something that was ratified and then it could be included. 6 Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February :t2, 2004 Duration The Union is thinking about a three-year agreement that could be reopened for wages and one or more other articles in the second and third year. This is open for discussion. Basic Work Week and Overtime Ms. Munley believed it contained existing language that was left after she pulled out everything else like working out of class and training. Section 4 has been modified to read that: For purposes of overtime computation, vacations, holidays and personal leave days and the employees' use of sick leave shall be considered as time worked. Ms. Munley added "holidays" to be made part of the computation for overtime and personal leave days since they were counter-proposing under the Sick Leave article that some of those days would be personal leave and right now, sick leave goes to the computation of overtime." Pro.qressive Discipline This article retains the existing language. Safety and Health This article includes the shoe allowance for the three-year period and Ms. Munley believed that Section 2 was "pretty much verbatim" from the blue-collar contract. She also believed that Section 3 about immunizations contained the existing language. General Provisions Ms. Munley explained that this is where she put everything that was not put into separate articles. Section 7 contains existing language. People who are required to wear uniforms will get what they have always gotten. In Section 8, people who are NOT required to wear uniforms but choose to wear polo shirts with the City's logo, are going to be provided seven polo shirts on their anniversary date. Seven should be underlined, because she believed it used to be two. Section 9 contains the Union proposal on the automobile allowance as proposed initially. Recruitment and Selection This contains existing language. Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 Wages Ms. Munley stated that this article was the initial proposal as faxed to the City with the addition of the first paragraph. This paragraph about reclassifications, upgrades, or promotions was existing language in the previous contract. The intent is to apply these various things so that the worker will feel the greater impact. The example was that somebody was either upgraded or given their raise first and it ended up that if it had been done a different way, that person would have gotten seven extra cents. Although it does not sound like a lot of money, it could make a difference over ten years. In the fourth paragraph, April 1,2003 should read April 1,2004. Ms. Munley commented that Mike Osborne had given the City a document at the blue collar meeting the day before about cost of living and it mentioned 2.3% or 2.38%. Mr. Hawkins agreed that he had received this. Ms. Munley said she did not see it, but the Union was not suggesting that the market adjustment was about the market. They were using the City's terminology. They should have just said, "across the board," because the 5% they were talking about across the board is about correcting the problems that were experienced over the last performance appraisal, and the increases to the minimums when they did not have that in the Labor agreement. The Union suggested that the 5% would clean up all the existing problems between the Union and the City. Ms. Munley addressed the performance evaluation system, saying that it was not going to work this year either and from what she was hearing, it was worse than the previous year. Everyone she had heard from had gotten a worse review this year than last year. She was hearing it from the white and blue-collar worlds. "Reviewer-type people are telling some employees that there is no way to get more than a "2" in most of the categories." Ms. Munley referred to Ms. Lytle's performance evaluation paperwork and stated that Ms. Lytle could have no idea from it of what "at expectation" performance would be. It says things like she is going to "order supplies," but it does not say without errors. It does not say she is going to reduce the budget by 2% via her supply orders. It does not give her something she can hang her hat on to exceed your expectations of her. This is the problem with performance appraisals all over the City. The key to success is locked in the head of the interviewer and it needs to be defined in the goals and standards of performance. As an example, she read from Ms. Lytle's evaluation, saying that the job task, "schedule paperwork for locaters," does not say "and have them there by 8:00 every morning" so she could have them there at 4:30 p.m. the day before they are needed." There are no guidelines for her to ever get more than "at expectation." Ms. Munley stated that there was a big problem with the performance evaluations. The reason the Union had given the City the wage proposal that it did was so that they could correct what happened last year and work to create a better scenario for future years, using the City's system. After seeing the presentation, she realized that the system had Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 potential, but it was not being done right yet. The Union did not want its people to suffer as they had in the past, and it appeared to her from her discussions with people about their pre-evaluations that it was going to be worse this year than last. The Union could not let that happen. The people look to the Union to help them get a fair shake. Ms. Lytle commented that even taking the Union out of it, it was not fair to an employee to be evaluated improperly or differently than other groups. Ms. Munley mentioned re-classifications, the moving into and out of bargaining units, and the re-grading of employees, saying that these items had to come before the Union because wages were a mandatory bargaining subject. Mr. Ricard stated that the City had not come back with a counter-offer on wages and he wanted to hear the City's thoughts about it. Mr. Hawkins stated that they would come back with a formal counter proposal, but he had supplied the parties with the City's responses to the Union's wage proposal in the hope that the groundwork for increased understanding could be put in place. The City agrees that some type of across-the-board is possible. It also agrees that a percentage is possible for "meets standards," so the City did not have a disagreement on the basis of the proposal. The problem that the City has is the percentage that was asked for. The City will come back with a counter percentage, but he was letting the Union know that it would not be 5%. Mr. Ricard asked when this would be forthcoming, and Mr. Hawkins stated that it would be given at the next scheduled meeting. Mr. Hawkins said the City had a lot to think about in that the Union had made clear at this meeting what the 5% represents, and he wanted to make sure that this was put on the record so that all the decision-makers could clearly understand what the Union's reasons were for asking for the 5%. He understood where the Union was coming from, but he wanted the clarification of the Union's reasons behind the 5% request to be a matter of record. He wanted all parties on the City's side of the table to understand where the Union was coming from on wages. He thought it was extremely important that the Union be given this opportunity to express its reasons for asking for the 5%. The policy makers have to take a look at the wage issue. He stated that the City would come back with a proposal that might be close to 5%, but not 5%. Ms. Munley stated that wages and performance were THE top issues for the employees. Mr. Ricard stated that the workers were becoming impatient because the contract negotiations were taking so long. Mr. Hawkins stated that the City had set itself a deadline to complete the negotiations by the end of February. He complimented Ms. Munley on the job she had done on addressing all the open issues. The City will come back with its counters and ideas on some of the proposed language at the next meeting. Next Meeting: White Collar Bargaining Unit, February 25 at 9:30 a.m., place TBD 9 Meeting Minutes White Collar Boynton Beach, Florida February 12, 2004 Mr. Ricard asked about the term of the contract. Mr. Hawkins said that the City had given more thought to this and now wanted to do a one-time, one-year contract to give both sides six months to see how all the changes made in this contract have been implemented. The parties can come back to the table in a bargaining session at that time to clean up any discrepancies or things that might not be working. Or, the parties could just simply say, "everything is working fine - let's talk about a longer term." Mr. Hawkins felt that having the negotiations in a bargaining setting was preferable to solving things in the Labor/Management Committee, since it makes everyone more accountable to work out the kinks and bugs that might be discovered as some of the new things are implemented. The City also wants to train all its supervisors on the terms of the contract. Mr. Hawkins did not think that there would be a whole lot of new things to talk about. He was convinced that any re-negotiating would be cleaning up and possibly refining functional matters that might not be working well. He did not see that there would be a necessity for a lot of meetings. Ms. Munley hoped that was true because she said that she works with other entities where she has a contract in four meetings or less. Mr. Hawkins thought that next time, that might be the case. Ms. Munley contended that the white-collar unit would have fewer reasons to make changes than the blue-collar unit. She stated that the Union would consider a one-year deal, but she doubted that they would want to re-open as many as four articles. She asked the City to consider whether it really had to be a one-year contract for the white- collar unit. Mr. Hawkins said they would continue to talk about it. Mr. Hawkins thought that the City Manager wanted to "hold their feet to the fire" to get all the kinks and bugs worked out. In six months, the parties could come back and with prior notice of any issues that need discussion, be in and out in a couple of meetings with the white-collar contract. From an accountability standpoint, Mr. Hawkins felt it would be helpful to maintain these conditions. The meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (021204) 10