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Minutes 02-03-05 MINUTES OF THE BLUE COLLAR AND WHITE COLLAR COMBINED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH HELD ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2005 AT 1:00 P.M. IN THE EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER (UTILITIES), BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O: Sharon Munley, Trustee, Local 1227 Bob Kruper, Union Steward Skip Lewis, Union Steward Mike Osborn, Union Steward Don Roberts, Union Steward Rick Smith, Union Steward Pam Welch, Union Steward John Wolcott, Union Steward For the City: Jeff Livergood, Public Works Director John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources Michael Pawelczyk, Assistant City Attorney Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 1 :20 p.m. A sign-in sheet was circulated. City's Counteroffer Article 25 - Sick Leave The Union proposed the language in Section 25.1 to read: "...If an employee fails to call in within the specified time, the employee shall be subject to progressive discipline... ,II The City proposed changing Section 25.7.2 to read: "Sick leave exceeding 3 consecutive work days requires medical certification on return to work." The City stated that providing medical certification after being out sick for 3 days has always been the practice but not required as part of the existing contract. The Union opposed this language arguing an employee is not necessarily able to see a physician within the first 3 days of being ill. Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 The City proposed changing Section 25.2E to read: "Employees who do not have enough vacation time to use for the total amount of emergency cash-in of vacation may consider including sick leave hours. Under the terms of this provision, sick leave hours may be paid (in cash) to an employee for extraordinary circumstances of hardship. Sick leave cash-in will be calculated at 50% of the employee's hourly rate. The total amount of vacation and sick hours may not exceed 90 hours and vacation hours must always be used before sick hours. Payment for sick leave hours may only be granted if the employee has the amount of sick leave credited to his/her leave account. The employee must retain a minimum of eighty (80) sick hours on the books. A request must be made in writing outlining the emergency and the number of hours requested. This request must be submitted to the Human Resources Director on the appropriate form. A committee comprised of the City Manager, Finance Director and Human Resources Director will then review the request and approve the requested hours in total or modified as they see fit. At the discretion of the City Manager, the time limit rule may be waived if there are exigent circumstances. Denial of sick leave pay will be made in writing stating the reasons for the denial. Employees may take advantage of this provision once during each year of this agreement." The Union did not agree with the 50% payout citing that it is time that belongs to the employee and is only paid out for extraordinary circumstances. They requested the existing language remain status quo, that the payout should be 100%, with a sentence added that reads as follows: "Any cash-out of vacation and sick must begin with vacation cash-out first." The Union confirmed that the employee should retain no less than 40 hours vacation time on the books. The City proposed striking the existing language for Section 25.7.2 and substituting the following: "Sick leave exceeding 3 consecutive work days requires medical certification on return to work." The Union did not agree with the 3-day timeframe and suggested the following verbiage: "Sick leave exceeding 4 consecutive work days requires medical certification within 72 hours of returning to work." 2 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 Article 26 - Workers Compensation The City proposed to strike the 2nd paragraph in Section 26.2, citing that employees were assuming they would automatically receive a 3-month extension, which is not true. The Union suggested changing adding the following language: "At the end of the three months, or sooner, the employees who have continuing serious medical conditions or require surgery, shall have this salary supplement continued for up to an additional three months." The City stated that requiring surgery would need to be changed to "major surgery" . The City stated that the language they suggested was done so at the direction of the Risk Manager. Mr. Jordan would confer with the Risk Manager to find out the reasoning behind it. Article 27 - Light Duty Section 27.1 - The City proposed the following language: "Employees who have injuries which prohibit them from performing their regular assignments may return to work and perform light duty when there is light duty work available and the City has determined, in its sole discretion, that the employee is able to perform the work without risk of further injury. The City is under no obligation to create light duty work. If there is no work available, the employee will remain on the sick leave status until he/she has a full release to return to work from his/her doctor." The City clarified that this Section does not apply for anyone on Workers Compensation leave. The Union opposed the phrase "sole discretion". Both sides agreed to removing the phrase and TA'd on this section. Article 28 - Vacation The Union requested the City shift some of the verbiage within Sections 28.4 and 28.5. Those sections will now read: 3 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 Section 28.4 "Vacation requests of three (3) shifts or less must be requested and approved or denied prior to the end of the work shift the work day preceding the time requested off. Vacation requests of four (4) shifts or more must be requested and approved or denied forty-eight (48) hours prior to the time requested off. Advanced vacation requests must be approved or denied within thirty (30) days of the date of the request." Section 28.5 "Employees shall be allowed to take up to twenty-four (24) hours of emergency vacation leave on an annual basis. The employee shall notify the Supervisor no less than one-half (1/2) hour after his/her normal workday begins, in accordance with the published Departmental Call-In Procedure." The City acknowledged that they are in the process of writing a call-in procedure manual that would outline, by department, step-by-step instructions for the employees and supervisors to follow in the event the employee should need to call in their inability to report to work. This document will standardize procedures and make it clearer for employees and supervisors to process call-in hours. The Union requested this manual be reviewed and approved within a labor management setting. The Union requested the notification time in Section 28.8 be changed to one-half (1/2) of their normal shift time. This is consistent with the notification time as agreed to in Article 25 - Sick Leave. The Union requested that the verbiage in the 2nd sentence of Section 28.7.2 should read: ".. .Sick leave hours cash-in will be calculated at 100% of the employee's hourly rate... Any cash-out of vacation and sick must begin with vacation cash-out first...." The Union requested time to caucus at 2:47 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:13 p.m. Article 29 - Bonus Hours and Bonus Increases The City clarified that the title of the article should be changed to read Bonus Hours and Bonus Increases (from Bonus Days and Bonus Increases). The Union proposed to change the wording in section 29.1.1 to include the following: 4 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 "...shall receive an eight (8) hour bonus day or a day equivalent to shift hours (whichever is greater) for continuous attendance..." Article 30 - Holiday The City clarified that the 2nd sentence in Section 30.1, referencing an employee's birthday, has been moved to Article 28 - Vacation. Article 31 - Compassionate Leave The City proposed Section 31 to read as follows: "In the event of the death of the mother, father, child, foster parent, foster child, brother, sister, husband, wife, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter- in-law, grandparent, grandchild, mother-in-law, or father-in-law of a regular employee, the employee shall be entitled to paid compassionate leave not to exceed three (3) consecutive workdays for anyone death. However, if it is necessary for the employee to leave the State in connection with the interment of the deceased, five (5) consecutive workdays shall be allowed. Employees must submit proof of death in order to be eligible for this article. The City Manager may grant additional leave under this section when he/she deems it appropriate." The Union asked to add "step-parents" and "step-child" to the list. The City cited that step-parent, step-grandparent, and step-child are considered inclusive of parent, grandparent, and child, respectively. Both sides agreed to the changes and TA'd on this section. Article 6 - Non-Descrimination Both sides agreed and TA'd on this section. Article 24 - Certification Pay The City made the change to Section 24.2 to read: "... Employees who currently have or who earn EMT certificates shall receive a one-time 5% wage increase upon initially earning the certificate.. ." Both sides agreed to the change and TA'd on this section. 5 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 Article 32.0 - Military Leave Previously T A'd. Article 33 - Leave of Absence The City proposed the following language for Section 33: Section 33.1 "A regular employee may be granted leave of absence without pay for a period not to exceed six months for sickness, disability or other good and sufficient reasons that are considered to be in the best interest of the City. Requests must be in writing. A leave of absence without pay of up to 30 calendar days can be approved by the employee's Department Head and the Human Resources Director. A leave of absence in excess of 30 calendar days must be approved by the City Manager. Employees that are on approved leave of absence without pay will be responsible for paying all their benefit premiums, e.g. insurance, etc." Section 33.2 "Leave of absence without pay will not be granted in order to accept employment with another employer. If granted, leave of absence without pay may subsequently be withdrawn and the employee recalled to service. All employees on leave of absence without pay are subject to applicable provisions of these rules. There will be no accrual of sick leave, vacation leave or seniority during a leave of absence without pay exceeding 30 days." The Union agreed to Section 33.2. They did not want to change the length allowed for leave from one (1) year to six (6) months as defined in Section 33.1. The City clarified that the verbiage presented is in consistent with the other Union contracts and the PPM. The Union requested language be added to Section 33 stating an employee may be granted leave, with pay, to work for the Union. The Union would reimburse the City for the employee's pay. The Union will present more formalized language stating such. Article 34 - Unauthorized Absence Status quo. Article 35 - Jury Duty Previously TA'd. 6 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 Article 36 - Seniority, Layoff & Recall In Section 36.3, the City struck the word "outsourcing", which makes the section status quo. Both sides agreed to the change and TA'd on this section. Section 37 - Recruitment and Selection The Union requested to review this section at the next meeting. Article 38 - Safety and Health The City proposed the following change to the 2nd sentence in Section 38.1 : "In addition employees shall receive an allowance, by December 1st of each year, for the purchase of specialty sunglasses of $120.00 per fiscal year." The last sentence in Section 38.1 was stricken. The Union asked if there could be one contract with sections titled White Collar Working Conditions, Code Enforcement Working Conditions and 911 Working Conditions. Mr. Pawelczyk stated that he would research the legality of doing such. Both sides understood that all employees affected by this change would need to approve it by majority vote. The City proposed the following change to the 1st sentence in Section 38.2: "Employees who are designated by the Safety Committee will receive a shoe allowance of $190.00 each year for safety shoe/boots payable once, within 60 days of ratification of this Agreement." The Union asked that a shoe allowance be added for White Collar employees, for those employees who are required to wear a uniform. The Code Enforcement employees are required to wear a black shoe, which is not a safety shoe. Currently, they are not reimbursed for them, but should be. The Police and Fire Departments have this as a uniform benefit. The Union argued that the Code Enforcement employees are a part of the Police Department, and should be provided the same allowance. 7 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 The Union also asked for a varying allowance to a multi-year contract wherein the first year would allow a $190.00 reimbursement and years two and three would allow a $200.00 reimbursement. The City stated they would be willing to do that if they were proposing a multi-year contract, but they are not. The City proposed the following language for Section 38.3: "The Union may participate on the Safety Committee and the Incidental Review Committee." (The City clarified that "Incidental" should be changed to "Incident".) "Employees in Sanitation who provide Re-cycle, Rear Loader and Vegetation services, and Water Utilities employees who are Meter Readers, Water Plant Mechanics and Operators may require more shoes each year than the allowance will cover. In this event, the employee must present the worn shoes and original receipts for shoe purchases in the fiscal year totaling more than the shoe allowance provided in Section 38.2 to his Supervisor to receive approval prior to the City purchasing the employee an additional pair of shoes." The Union asked that the City notify all employees in writing regarding this change. Article 40 - Uniforms The City proposed the following addition to the end of Section 40.2: "Only City issued hats and jackets may be worn while on duty, inclusive of breaks." The Union requested a heavy weight jacket to wear as part of the uniform. Mr. Jordan stated that he has sourced a fleece liner for the existing jackets that will be ordered. He also mentioned that hats are in short supply and they are working towards rectifying this situation. Ms. Munley asked if the City would reimburse employees to have a Union logo patch sewed onto their uniform for any employee who would like to wear a Union logo. At a minimum, the Union would like to have the Union Stewards display the Union logo on their attire. The City stated it would research the feasibility of this request. The City proposed the following language for Section 40.9: "An employee may wear a City approved alternate uniform when the employee has a medical condition, as identified by their physician and 8 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 certified by a City appointed doctor, which condition prevents the employee from wearing the standard department uniform." The Union opposed this language but the City ar~ued that this verbiage had been agreed to at the meeting held on December 10 . The City suggested that the phrase "their physician" should be changed to "the employee's physician" and "certified" should be changed to "verify". "Subject to verification by a City appointed doctor, as determined by the City." The Union argued that this infringes upon an employee's rights as defined by HIPPA, citing that an employee's doctor would not release or verify any information regarding the employee to the City's appointed doctor. The Union has a bad taste in its mouth because the City previously distributed within the City a list of employees requiring alternate uniforms and the medical condition associated with the requirement. Article 41 -Insurance Both sides agreed to TA on this section. Article 39 - Tool Replacement The City proposed striking "Golf Course" mechanics from Section 39.3. The Union opposed this stating that those mechanics are required to provide their own tools. The City argued that the Golf Course employees are not require to provide their own tools and had verified this information with the Department's Supervisor. Therefore, an allowance for those employees would not be appropriate. The City will re-verify this practice with the Golf Course. The Union requested that language be added to Section 39.2 indicating the Incident Review Committee would determine if an employee had been negligent in the loss or destruction of a City provided tool. This Committee should be weighted fairly with an equal number of Union employees and City representatives. The Union suggested that the last sentence should read: "In the event that the employee was negligent, as determined by the Incident Review Committee, the employee shall be responsible for the replacement of the stolen tools." Article 42 - Personnel Files The City proposed striking the last sentence in Section 42.1 , which reads: 9 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida February 3, 2005 "Prior to disciplinary actions, beyond a two year time frame, recorded on the employee personnel file that are not pertinent to the particular action being considered, shall not be referred to in any current disciplinary action." The Union proposed inserting a list of misconduct infractions and the penalty associated with each infraction. It would also list the length of time the infraction would stay in the employee's personnel file for future consideration. The City agreed, citing it would serve better in the Disciplinary section. The City will provide the Union with the newest PPM Disciplinary article for the Union to use as a guide in drafting verbiage for the Disciplinary section. Adjournment The negotiation session ended at 4:43 p.m. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on Thursday, February 8 at 9:00 a.m. at the Emergency Operations Center of the Utilities Department. Respectfully submitted, Deanna Ewing Recording Secretary (021005) 10