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Minutes 11-10-04 MINUTES OF THE BLUE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, HELD ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2004 AT 10:00 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O: Sharon Munley, President, Local 1227 Jeff Mark, Union Steward Don Roberts, Union Steward Rick Smith, Union Steward Mike Taylor, Union Steward John Wolcott, Union Steward For the City: Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager Jeff Livergood, Public Works Director John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources Call to Order Mr. Hawkins called the meeting to order at 10:12 a.m. A sign in sheet was circulated and provided to the Recording Secretary for inclusion with the minutes. MeetinQ Process Mr. Hawkins stated that the City would like to first discuss how the process would be addressed and to set timeframes on the negotiations. He suggested setting the hours and sessions that the parties would need for the negotiations. Mr. Hawkins pointed out that it would be difficult to devote an entire day to negotiations and felt it would be best to set specific dates for meeting on a weekly or twice-weekly basis, perhaps in two hour sessions. If the Union wanted to meet for four hours, Mr. Hawkins suggested that this be done on a weekly basis only. Ms. Munley had the impression that the parties would need a lot more time to meet to address the proposal that the City presented, and she estimated that it might take another year to accomplish this. Mr. Hawkins stated that the parties would not be at the table for a year and if the parties could not come to an agreement, they would be at an impasse. Ms. Munley was not interested in setting timeframes. Mr. Hawkins felt it would be fruitless to have negotiating sessions dealing with articles that the parties could not agree upon. If that happened, the parties would have to agree that they cannot agree and the City would be willing to say this. If the Union comes back with a written counterproposal, this would help the process. Ms. Munley pointed out that when the parties left the table in June, there was an understanding that the parties would come back in the Fall to discuss the articles that Meeting Minutes NCFO/City of Boynton Beach Blue Collar Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida November 10,1004 did not work as intended. Mr. Hawkins responded that the City's proposal on the table intended to fix some articles that were not working right. He suggested that the Union offer their counterproposal so that the parties could negotiate. Ms. Munley distributed a copy of her Memorandum dated November 10, 2004 with the articles that they Union would like to discuss. Any articles not contained in this Memorandum would remain status quo. Mr. Hawkins responded that the City was agreeable to begin the discussions with these articles. Ms. Munley stated that the Union did not prepare a written proposal because she assumed that they would only be discussing the articles that did not implement as intended when they were developed originally. She was very upset when she received the City's proposal and pointed out the time that was spent in developing a cutting edge labor agreement. The City's proposal, as presented, contains 28 articles out of 50 that take things away from employees. As a result of the City's proposal, Ms. Munley prepared a letter, a copy of which was distributed and is on file with the minutes of the meeting, that will be sent to every Union member if the City does not withdraw its proposal and present the Union with something realistic. The letter will be sent to the press and the City Commission and it is their intention to bring their attorney into the negotiations. Mr. Hawkins was not opposed to having the attorneys involved in the negotiations. Mr. Hawkins explained that the City feels that there is too much overtime being accrued by some departments and this cannot continue. Therefore, the articles have been addressed with this in mind. He also noted that because Utilities would have a new Director coming onboard there are some major changes that need to take place in that Department. Mr. Hawkins acknowledged that the proposed contract would not be popular, but the City feels that it is for the betterment of the City. Even though the City's proposal is not what was originally intended, after scrutinizing what was occurring in some departments, the City felt that this proposal addressed those issues. The City does anticipate that the Union would be coming back with counterproposals to the City's proposals. Ms. Munley inquired why the City was eliminating the language in the Rights of Employees' Article. She further inquired why the City would no longer be providing copies of the Collective Bargaining Agreement so that employees would know what was or was not in their Agreement. With regard to Article 13, Ms. Munley pointed out that the City wanted to change the days and work hours of employees after a person had worked overtime to avoid paying overtime. Ms. Munley felt that this type of language was archaic. Mr. Hawkins responded that the overtime received by an employee is based upon FSLA. 2 Meeting Minutes NCFO/City of Boynton Beach Blue Collar Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 1004 Ms. Munley recited from the City's proposal that stated: 'The City may adjust work hours in a work week to avoid overtime payment by reducing actual hours worked to offset the additional hours worked." Mr. Hawkins interpreted this to mean that the City has the right to adjust schedules. Ms. Munley disagreed that the City could have this right and Mr. Hawkins responded that the City has the right to adjust schedules to avoid overtime. He pointed out that the City was not opposed to paying overtime, but wanted the ability to adjust schedules to KEEP employees from working overtime. Ms. Munley also inquired why the City deleted time records from the contract and why the City would no longer follow the seven (7) minute rule. Mr. Hawkins stated that this is covered in the basic workweek section of the proposal. Ms. Munley also stated that the Union was opposed to having discipline governed by the City's PPM and that the Union wanted to retain the article in the current agreement. Mr. Hawkins said that the current article does not address discipline, but only arbitration and the appeal process. Ms. Munley felt that they were entitled to the arbitration process for a disciplinary matter and Mr. Hawkins noted that the PPM covered both basic discipline and arbitration. He also stated that the Union had been asked several times to review the City's PPM and Ms. Munley responded that they looked at the PPM during negotiations for the past three contracts. She pointed out that certain items from the PPM have been put into the contract. Ms. Munley also noted that the names of arbitrators have been placed in the contract and inquired how it would be handled if one of them could no longer serve. Mr. Hawkins stated that they could choose another person or more names could be added to the list. With regard to Article 3, Ms. Munley inquired why the rights of employees were stricken and that the provisions of the contact were not going to be applied equally. Mr. Hawkins responded that many of these provisions are covered by case law or state statute. Ms. Munley stated that they could not agree with the City's proposal for this Article. Also, she inquired why non-discrimination was eliminated in the proposal and Mr. Hawkins stated that various laws covered this. Ms. Munley pointed out that this put a burden upon employees to find out what these rights were. Mr. Hawkins stated that employees are constantly informed of their rights and are stated on the employment application. The City's proposal states that all the time for the stewards for Union business would come from the Union time pool and that the City would no longer provide any time. Ms. Munley inquired if she interpreted this correctly. Mr. Hawkins stated that this language was in other Union contracts. Ms. Munley retorted that she would be removing all the Union contracts on their website because she felt the City was using this public information improperly. Ms. Munley inquired why the City was deleting the entire Emergency Pay Policy when this particular article resulted from the settlement of a grievance three years AGO. Mr. Hawkins stated that the City is preparing an ordinance that would cover all City 3 Meeting Minutes NCFO/City of Boynton Beach Blue Collar Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 1004 employees regarding emergency pay. Ms. Munley stated that this would not apply to the Union because they have a contract with the City. Ms. Munley inquired why funeral leave, jury duty, and military leave were moved to the Collateral Documents Article. Mr. Jordan stated that these provisions were governed by law and were moved to this Article for clarity. It was noted that the City's proposal deleted the Job Posting and Bidding Articles and the $175 reimbursement for shoes. Mr. Hawkins responded that they want to discuss the amount of the shoe reimbursement and are not removing it from the contract. Ms. Munley inquired why Golf Course mechanics would no longer be reimbursed for their tools and Mr. Hawkins stated that the Department provides the mechanics with tools. With regard to uniforms, Ms. Munley questioned why the City would require an employee to see the City's doctor if that employee's doctor stated he could not wear the uniform provided by the City due to allergies, etc. Ms. Munley did not think that this was necessary. Mr. Taylor stated that a written statement from an employee's doctor should be sufficient for the City and that employees should not be required to see the City's doctor. Mr. Hawkins stated that the City wanted to obtain a second opinion in this instance. Mr. Jordan added that if an employee cannot wear a particular uniform and it affects his working conditions, the City should have the right to verify this. Mr. Jordan felt that this was a protection for the employee, as well as the City. Mr. Jordan also stated that if this ended in a dispute, then the employee would be referred to a third doctor for an opinion. Mr. Hawkins was amenable to entertaining a counterproposal from the Union. Ms. Munley questioned why the Article entitled "Maintenance of Conditions" was changed to "Modification of Conditions." The Union requested to caucus at 10:50 a.m. The Meeting reconvened at 11 :07 p.m. Ms. Munley requested to discuss Article 13 - Basic Work Week and Overtime. The first change to the Article states "Overtime shall be offered to employees qualified to perform the overtime work on a rotating basis based on seniority." Ms. Munley inquired if there have been occasions where employees were given overtime to perform a job that they were not qualified to do. Mr. Livergood responded that it is important that a person doing the overtime work be qualified to do so. He felt that if this language were not included in the contract, the overtime would be done on a rotating basis based upon seniority. He stressed that it was important that employees know how overtime is assigned. 4 Meeting Minutes NCFO/City of Boynton Beach Blue Collar Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 1004 Ms. Munley inquired why an employee would not be qualified for overtime if they have been performing the same job all day. Mr. Livergood stated that this was the intent of the language in the proposal. Ms. Munley recommended language that would read, "employees are assigned overtime on a rotating basis, based upon seniority in each classification. " Mr. Livergood thought that the City's language was comparable. Ms. Munley stated that the City's language would allow the City to say a person was not qualified to do the job, even though he performed the job all day. Mr. Livergood stated the intent of the language was to make sure that an employee was qualified and capable to perform the work and overtime should not be offered based upon seniority on a rotating basis. Ms. Munley inquired if there were ever employees assigned to overtime work that was not in their classification and Mr. Livergood stated that this has happened. Ms. Munley recommended adding language that would include "in each classification." Mr. Livergood thought that this might be doable. Mr. Smith pointed out that employees in other departments have been working overtime on a voluntary basis. There have been employees who have been asked to work overtime and have performed work that was not in their job classification. Mr. Livergood stated that the new language would eliminate volunteering for overtime. Ms. Munley thought that they could add language that would state that overtime would be offered by job function and this could be added to the Task Article since these are the only employees that would be affected by this language. Mr. Jordan also recommended that there could be language added that when overtime is offered it would be ''top down" and when it is assigned, it would be "bottom up." Ms. Munley requested that Mr. Hawkins address the overtime problem in the Utilities Department. Mr. Hawkins responded that the overtime in that Department is costing the City too much money, excluding the hurricanes. Staff is currently working on ways to come up with parameters on curtailing overtime as evidenced in some of the language in the City's proposal. He further stated that employees have taken advantage of the current language in the contract. Ms. Munley made a public information request to be furnished with the costs for overtime in the Utilities Department. Mr. Hawkins informed her to complete the request and turn it in to the City. She was of the opinion that the overtime costs have not been any higher this year than in previous years. Ms. Munley stated that the Union was opposed to losing any of the benefits that they have gained, which is evidenced in Article 13.6. Mr. Hawkins did not feel that any benefits would be lost. She further felt it was the City's responsibility to control their own workers and the Union should not be held accountable. 5 Meeting Minutes NCFO/City of Boynton Beach Blue Collar Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida November 10, 1004 Next MeetinQ Dates Mr. Jordan stated that this initial meeting was to set the parameters for the negotiations and the meeting dates and times. He requested that the meeting now address these issues. He pointed out that there are many articles that have no changes and the parties need to identify the articles that need to be negotiated. The following meeting dates and times were established: · Thursday, November 18, 2004 - 11 :00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. · Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. · Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - 1 :00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. · Friday, December 3, 2004 - 1 :00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. · Tuesday, December 7, 2004 - 1 :00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. · Friday, December 10, 2004 - 11 :00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Ms. Munley inquired when the white-collar bargaining unit would be meeting. Mr. Hawkins did not think that this unit would need as much time as the blue collar. He suggested that one of the blue-collar meetings could include white collar as well. Mr. Mark requested that the City notify his supervisor of the meeting dates so that he could attend the meetings. Mr. Hawkins recommended that Mr. Mark bring a copy of the minutes to Mr. Majors and if Mr. Majors had any questions, he should speak with Mr. Hawkins. ./ For the next meeting Ms. Munley will bring the Articles that they would like to have changed. ./ Mr. Jordan recommended that they TA the articles they agree upon. ./ Ms. Munley was opposed to having to T A any article that had no change from the old contract. ./ There will be no matrix tracking the articles. Ms. Munley requested a disk of the existing contract. Mr. Jordan will provide this. Mr. Hawkins also recommended that Ms. Munley be furnished with a disk of the City's proposal, which Mr. Jordan will also provide. Adiournment There being no further business, the meeting properly adjourned at 11 :45 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~ fI. fI~ Barbara M. Madden Recording Secretary (November 15, 2004) 6