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white collar 02-25-04 WHITE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH HELD ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25,2004 AT 9:30 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM C, WEST WING, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227 Debbie Lytle, Steward, Utilities For the City: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Arthur Lee, Director of Human Resources John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources 1. Call to Order Mr. Hawkins called the meeting order at 9:55 a.m. 2. Approval of Minutes of February 12, 2004 The minutes were accepted as submitted. Review of Open Articles Ms. Munley brought to the meeting the Articles that were approved during the Blue Collar Session and felt that some of those Articles would also apply to the White Collar as well. Ms. Munley thought that it was important that the White Collar T A as many open Articles as possible. Transfers & Demotions The Article now reads that an employee who accepts a voluntary demotion will suffer no loss of pay. Also, there is language in the Article that deals with demotions that are punitive. Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd this Article. Stand By and Call Back Ms. Munley inquired if white-collar employees were assigned a take-home vehicle and she was informed that some personnel have take-home vehicles. Ms. Munley added language to Section 1 of this Article that reads: Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 "Employees placed on Stand-by, who are assigned a take home vehicle according the Department rotation list, 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. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article. Light Duty Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd this Article. Worker's Compensation Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd this Article Funeral Leave Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article Emergency Pay Policy Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article Holidays Ms. Munley pointed out the changes made to Section 3 of this Article now read: "Section 3. A full-time employee required to work and who actually works on an observed holiday or on the actual calendar day of the holiday, but not both, shall receive time and one-half (1 %) their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in addition to that payment provided in Section 2." Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article Vacation The last paragraph of this Article has been changed to read as follows: "Employees may cash in up to ninety (90) hours of vacation for emergencies or extraordinary cases of hardship if the employee has the time accrued in his/her account provided, however, the combined cash out of sick and/or vacation time in anyone contract year shall not exceed ninety (90) hours. The employee may take advantage of this provision once during each year of this Agreement. In order to take advantage of 2 " H...."".."'",.....",,,.,.....,,;." Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 this provision, the employee must retain a minimum of forty (40) hours in their annual leave bank. " Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd this Article.. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that the issues regarding uniforms and shoes still need to be resolved. The language dealing with this is in the General Provisions Article. Working In A Higher Classification Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article. Employees Assigned to Training Duties Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article. Sick Leave The changes made to this Article during the blue-collar session were reviewed. Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins then TA'd the Article. Safety and Health During the term of this Agreement, employees that the Safety Committee designates should receive a shoe stipend will receive $175.00 yearly. Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article. Outstanding Articles Mr. Lee noted that the following Articles remain outstanding: · Grievance Procedure · Progressive Discipline · Basic Work Week and Overtime · Uniforms · General Provisions · Maintenance of Benefits · Recruitment and Selection · Duration · Collateral Documents · Labor-Management · Certification Pay · Wages 3 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 Certification Pay Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins TA'd this Article. General Provisions Ms. Munley pointed out that the language in this Article is existing language except for Sections 8 and 9. Section 8 reads "Employees who are not required to wear uniforms, but who choose to wear City logo bearing polo shirts, shall be provided seven (7) polo shirts on the employee's anniversary date." Ms. Munley inquired how sharing the cost of reproducing the contract was previously handled. Mr. Jordan suggested posting the contract on the City's Internet site, since all white-collar employees have access to a computer. Ms. Lytle noted that since the contract was only for one year that posting on the Internet would be sufficient. Ms. Munley added the following language to Section 1 of this Article to read as follows: "The City and the Union agrees to share in the cost of reproducing this Agreement, except that the parties agree to provide the contract via the Internet during the term of this Agreement. II Ms. Munley stated that they could put the agreement on the Union's website as well. With regard to Section 9, "Automobile Allowance" the City offered $490 as the monthly car allowance. Ms. Lytle inquired if this would be retroactive to October 1, 2003 and Mr. Hawkins stated that it would. Ms. Munley T A'd this Article. Mr. Hawkins had a question regarding the first full paragraph on page two of this Article that currently reads: "Disciplinary actions older than a two (2) year time frame shall not be referred to or considered in any current disciplinary action." Mr. Hawkins felt that this should include language that the disciplinary action older than the two-year timeframe did not pertain to the current discipline. Ms. Munley stated that the language as written is the union's standard. After a certain period time, the discipline received no longer counts. Ms. Munley recommended using the current progressive discipline language pertaining to white-collar employees. Mr. Hawkins felt that the language should also be moved to the progressive discipline article. 4 'd'.,"~'__"'''''_ . .or.... ,'" '" .;~ ~""",,,_,,,,,.,",,,,",,,,:;:,,,,,,,,,"'_'~""''''''N'',,,,,,,,,,,,,;"'"":'_".':""''''''.';,'.,_,_,.,"",.., Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 Ms. Munley noted that in all of their contracts there is language that states after a certain period of time, if there is no reoccurrence of the same action, it is no longer germane. Mr. Jordan felt that if a person does the same thing a second time, regardless of when the first offense happened, it should be brought up as a pattern. Ms. Munley recommended that language could be added that it would only apply to extreme or unlawful misconduct. Therefore, the paragraph would be changed to read as follows: "With the exception of extreme or unlawful misconduct, disciplinary actions older than a two (2) year timeframe shall not be referred to or considered in any current disciplinary action." Mr. Hawkins agreed to the change in the language and requested that this paragraph be moved to the Progressive Discipline Article. Ms. Munley agreed to move the language as requested by Mr. Hawkins. In the category of "Extreme Misconduct" Ms. Munley did not feel that "gambling," "refusing to sign a disciplinary form," or "conducting personal business" should be included. Mr. Hawkins T A'd the General Provisions Article. Progressive Discipline Ms. Munley requested that the Progressive Discipline Article also be TA'd. Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd the Progressive Discipline Article. Recruitment and Selection Ms. Lytle thought that this Article was going to be removed from the contract since the Union has no control over this process. Ms. Munley pointed out that the City has the white-collar process, the blue-collar process and the PPM. Ms. Munley suggested that the recruitment and selection section become part of labor-management and Mr. Lee agreed with this. Ms. Munley said that there have been complaints by employees that when they are interviewed for a position, their certifications and experience are not given as much importance as the actual interview. Mr. Lee explained that the City uses a rating scale for certain positions and people with varying levels of education and experience would receive points accordingly. After that, the interview process wbuld begin. The department must first submit their interview questions to Human Resources before any interviews can be held. Once Human Resources approve the questions, the interviews take place. A panel of persons is next selected for the interview process and Mr. Lee explained the process to Ms. Munley and Ms. Lytle. If a person being interviewed felt that one of the 5 Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 panel members was not acceptable, that person would be removed from the panel. The City tries to be consistent and fair. Members of the panel are encouraged to be objective when scoring an applicant. After the interviews, all the rating forms are submitted to Human Resources to be scored. Seniority with the City is given some points as well. Ms. Lytle thought that the selection process was not consistent because she has seen interview panels made up of two, three or five people for the same position. Mr. Lee stated that normally a panel would consist of at least three or more people. Ms. Munley recommended having a Union person sit on the panel when the position available is a union job. Mr. Lee noted that Mike Taylor had sat on a panel previously and thought that this was a good idea. Ms. Munley thought that this would be a good subject for labor-management to address. Mr. Jordan also felt that this was an excellent idea and he would like to implement it immediately. Mr. Hawkins noted that there should always be a minimum of three people on any panel. Ms. Munley recommended coming up with some language that could be added to the contract that the parties agreed that there would be a union representative selected by the union to sit in on interviews whenever the position available was a union position. Mr. Hawkins recommended that the union select at least two people for blue-collar interviews and one for white-collar interviews. Ms. Munley will prepare an appendix to attach to the contract. Basic Work Week and Overtime Ms. Munley noted that the only difference in the language is holidays and personal leave. There was a time when the City included holidays when computing overtime computation, which is no longer the case. Ms. Hawkins noted that the City needs to make a decision on whether they want to include holidays in overtime compensation. Ms. Munley pointed out that only sick leave and vacation count towards overtime. The union would like to include holidays as well. Ms. Lytle noted that this impacts the City more than the employees, because employees do not want to work overtime when a holiday falls within that week. Mr. Hawkins acknowledged that a decision needs to be made on this. Labor-Management The union would like to have an expedited panel of arbitrators for anything that is an issue. It was agreed that this Article would be changed to read as follows: "A joint labor/management committee composed of an equal number of representatives from the union and management shall meet within thirty (30) days of the ratification of this agreement to study and make 6 ..:.",.:",..",__,~"""""_,,,,,,,.,,,,....,,,,,,j"<';"~_"",",,,",,,,,:,,,,,,,~"~,..i,:' Meeting Minutes White Collar Collective Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida February 25, 2 recommendations on ways to minimize overtime costs, standby costs, and improve working conditions for employees, or to take up other subjects as determined by the Committee." "During the first meeting, the Committee shall determine a meeting schedule to be implemented." Ms. Munley and Mr. Hawkins T A'd this Article. The originals of the T A Articles were provided to the Recording Secretary to make copies for Messrs. Hawkins, Lee and Jordan. Next MeetinQ Ms. Munley recommended that the Friday meeting include both the blue and white collar. The remaining articles that need to be addressed are - Wages Grievance Basic Work Week Duration Collateral Documents Maintenance of Benefits Ms. Munley also thought having an MOU regarding the selection process could be discussed at the Friday meeting as well. Adiournment There being no further business the meeting properly adjourned at 11 :50 a.m. Respectfully submitted, --~~. -/kdL Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (March 12, 2004) 7