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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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)
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