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Minutes 01-28-05 (" ( j ;' 1 f' ( 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 FRIDAY, JANUARY 28,2005 AT 1 :00 P.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For NCF&O: Sharon Munley, Trustee, Local 1227 Bob Kruper, Union Steward Mike Osborn, Union Steward Jeff Mark, Union Steward Rick Smith, Union Steward Pam Welch, Union Steward John Pagliarulo, Union Steward Michael Taylor, 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: 17 p.m. A sign-in sheet was circulated. Mr. Jordan introduced Mr. Pawelczyk, Assistant City Attorney, to the attendees. Mr. Pawelczyk commented that he had worked for the City of Boynton Beach several years ago as in-house counsel. Ms. Munley informed the City that the Utility Stewards would be meeting with Mr. Bressner on Wednesday, January February 2, 2004 regarding the issues within the Utility Department. Union's Counteroffer Article 53 - Duration The Union proposed a 3-year agreement with an end date of September 30, 2007. Article 17 - Wages The Union distributed its counterproposal, which includes a 3% market adjustment added to base wages and an additional 5% wage adjustment provided the bargaining unit employee receives a passing score on their performance appraisal. In addition, the following language was added: Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 Section 17.1.3 "No employee will receive a base wage increase to a rate higher than the maximum salary for the position." Section 17.1.4 'Within 30 days from the date of ratification of this Agreement, the City and the Union will form a committee and begin to meet in order to review and redevelop the current performance appraisal instrument. The revised instrument will list specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented and time phased goals for each employee that are directly related to his job function. The new instrument should have the purpose of assisting the employee with proper information that will allow them to attain the highest possible rating on the new merit system instrument. Should the new instrument be ready for implementation (at the start of the grading period) during the time of this Agreement, the instrument will be implemented on a test basis." Section 17.1.5 "Should the City perform a salary study during the term of this Agreement, the City will negotiate the implementation with the Union prior to implementation." Section 17.1.6 "The City shall continue to make pay checks available to bargaining unit workers before 11 :00 a.m. on each City pay day." Sections 17.2 and 17.3 were struck from the record. Mr. Jordan stated that he would ask the City's Finance Director to gather the budgeted wage figures for 2005. These figures would be utilized during remaining discussions of wages. Ms. Munley mentioned the scheduled salary study she had noticed in the December minutes. Mr. Jordan clarified that the study is not scheduled for January, but that the RFP was submitted in January. The contract would not be awarded until probably sometime in February with the study commencing in March. Ms. Munley stated that the language in Section 17.1.4 is very important because the Union feels that the performance appraisal instrument the City uses currently 2 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 does not work. It causes grief for the City's workers and does not give them the information they need to reach the goals that Supervisor's have in their heads for them. Until the new instrument is created, the Union does not want anyone to go through the merit review process. Mr. Jordan commented that he wanted to gather the information from the Finance Director prior to discussing any items on the Union's counterproposal for Wages. City's Counteroffer Article I - Preamble The City proposed changing only the way the sections are numbered. The numbering system that carries throughout the document reflects the Article number first, then the section number. For example, sections within Article I (Preamble) would now be labeled 1.1, 1.2, etc. The Union stated they understood. Article 2 - Recognition No changes. Article 3 - Rights of Employees Ms. Munley stated that she had understood that Sections 1 and 2 were put back into the Article because Blue and White Collar rights are handled differently and, therefore, need to be addressed separately. Ms. Munley further explained that Section 3 should be preserved because a grievance is a violation of the document and the document needs to inform the employees that they have rights. When the City doesn't apply the document fairly, the Union needs to be able to grieve it by Article and Section numbers. The City argued that if the City violates the agreement, then it would be a violation of a specific section within the agreement, not within the Rights of Employees section. Section 5 was moved to Article 53 - Collateral Documents (formerly Section 52). Article 4 - Management Rights No changes were made, except for Section numbering. The Union clarified that this section is the same for both Blue and White Collar. 3 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28,2005 Article 6. - Non-Discrimination This article is the same for both Blue and White Collar. Section 6.2 reads: "It is agreed that no employee shall be discriminated against, as prescribed by State or Federal laws." (The remainder of the original sentence would be struck from the record, which read "...in their employment because of race, creed, color, sex, age, national origin, marital status, physical handicap, sexual orientation or membership or non-membership in the Union.") The Union proposed adding the words "as amended" to the end of the proposed language. This would allow the government to amend Title VII or any laws pertaining to employee rights for the duration of the contract. Article 7 - Representation of the City No changes. Article 8 - Union Representation The City proposed the following language in Section 8.4 that reads: "Union Stewards may be granted leave and may utilize "Union time pool" to engage in the following representative activities." The first sentence in the paragraph after the 3 bulleted items was struck. The paragraph would begin with: "Members of the bargaining unit may each donate a proportionate share of the hours necessary to fund the Union time pooL" Article 9 - Collective Bargaining Section 9.2 reads: "Stewards may participate in collective bargaining while on duty, without loss of pay by using Union time pool hours. Stewards or bargaining unit members may attend while off duty or when on approved paid leave." Article 10 - Union Time Pool The following sections were added: 4 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 Section 10.3 "Union time pool hours shall only be used for a steward's leave from assigned regular duties." Section 10.4 "Union time pool hours shall be classified as paid leave from work." Article 11 - Bulletin Boards No changes. Article 12 - Grievance and Arbitration Procedures Changes in Section 12.4.1 (a) are: . "ten (10) working days [from five (5) working days], · an end parenthesis ")" was added to the end of the second sentence." Section 12.4.3, 3rd paragraph reads: "The City and the Union shall select a panel of six (6) arbitrators from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS). The City selects three (3) arbitrators and the Union selects three (3) arbitrators. These arbitrators shall hear grievances on a rotating basis, beginning in alphabetical order of the arbitrator's sir name." (The list of arbitrator names was stricken from the record.) The Union did not agree with the City's proposed addition to Section 12.5: 'When an arbitrator has been selected by the parties, the City shall have ten (10) days from receipt of notice of appointment to raise arbitrability as a defense. If arbitrability is raised by the City, the issue of arbitrability shall be determined by the arbitrator no less than thirty (30) days prior to the commencement of an arbitration hearing on the grievance itself. If the City raises the question of arbitrability and loses that determination, the City shall pay the cost of the arbitrator. If the City raises the question of arbitrability and the arbitrator determines that the matter is not arbitrable, the Union shall pay for the arbitrator. This provision shall not prohibit the City from challenging the arbitrability of any grievance in an action for declaratory relief filed in the Circuit Court of Palm Beach County, Florida. In the event of a court action by the City, the grievance/arbitration proceeding shall be abated until the conclusion of the court proceeding." 5 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28,2005 Article 13 - Disciplinary Appeal & Arbitration Procedure In Section 13.3, a comma was deleted that had been improperly placed after " f " .. .pay 0 ... . The Union stated that they were not comfortable with having to be suspended for 5 days in order to be eligible to enter into arbitration. They had previously offered that the Union would agree to the employee's choice to either use the negotiated process or the PPM. Requiring this much time allows Supervisors to unfairly load the employee's file with documentation and asks the Union to give up the right to have the ability to defend for them. The Union asked for a list of infractions and what penalty they are equal to. Ms. Munley stated that Stewards need a roadmap in order to be more effective and know when discipline isn't being administered fairly. Article 14 - Basic Work Week and Overtime The last sentence in Section 14.2 reads: "Overtime shall be offered for a specified work function on a rotating basis based on seniority to those employees who normally perform the job functions during their regular work hours." Section 14.3 reads: "Employees may all be required to work additional hours as directed unless excused by supervision. The City may adjust work hours in a work week to avoid overtime payment by reducing actual hours worked." The Union did not approve of reducing actual hours worked to avoid overtime payment. If an employee is called upon to work an extra shift during his/her regularly scheduled work week (i.e., sewage cleanup) only to have his/her hours cut later in the week so that the City can avoid paying overtime, the next time an emergency sewage cleanup is required, employees would not be as willing to work the extra shift. The City argued that they required more control over reducing overtime. Section 14.6 reads: "For purposes of overtime computation only hours actually worked count as hours worked. The remaining verbiage was struck from the record. 6 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 The Union did not agree with the rephrasing of this section. They wanted to leave the section status quo. The City argued for the new language, stating they would like to prevent situations where an employee who would normally work Monday through Friday calls in sick one of those days because they knew they would be working an overtime shift on Saturday. The current agreement pays the Saturday shift as overtime, no matter how many hours are worked during the regular work week. The City requested time to caucus at 2:20 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 2:32 p.m. The City agreed that Section 14.3 should not be stricken. The section would read: "Employees may all be required to work additional hours as directed unless excused by supervision. In the event any employee is required to work approved overtime, he/she shall not be requested to use annual leave nor be placed in a "leave without pay" status during the same basic work week in order to compensate or offset the additional hours worked." The Union agreed to the change. The City agreed to change Section 14.6 as follows: "For purposes of overtime computation only hours actually worked and personal leave, comp time, vacation hours, sick hours, and holiday hours shall be counted as time worked. Funeral leave, jury duty, annual military leave, and other absences from duty on active pay status shall not be considered as time worked for purposes of overtime computation." The Union agreed to the change. Article 15 - Task Assignment - Solid Waste In Section 15.1.3, the City proposed striking the last sentence in paragraph two, which reads "Task hours shall be counted in the computation of overtime." The Union did not agree and asked for the verbiage to be retained. The City proposed the following: 7 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28,2005 Section 15.1 .6 "Task workers will be paid overtime for all hours actually worked over forty hours in a seven day work cycle." The Union asked to strike this verbiage. Section 15.2.3 - the City proposed to strike this section arguing that a Task employee would be paid for a set number of hours as determined by the Task schedule (i.e. 4 ten hour days, totaling 40 hours in the regularly scheduled work week). In this case, if the employee completes the task in less than the 10 hours per shift, the employee would still be paid for the 40-hour week. The employee would be paid overtime for any hours worked in excess of the 40-hour work week. The Union asked for this section to be retained, citing that it is likely that the task day would increase to something more than a 10-hour day because the City is growing in size. Task employees have always been paid overtime for any hours worked over their scheduled task day, in addition to extra shifts that may be worked beyond the regular task work week. The Union requested time to caucus at 2:59 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:10 p.m. The City agreed to rework the verbiage to hours actually worked over the Task scheduled shift. Article 16 - Work Breaks The City proposed to change the verbiage in this section, which reads: 16.1 "All bargaining unit workers shall take either a one-half hour or a full hour unpaid lunch period each day based on a majority vote of the employee group." 16.2 "Employees shall take two; fifteen (15) minute paid breaks each day. One break approximately midway through the first half of the work shift and the other break approximately midway through the second half of the work shift. "In addition, employees shall be in a pay status, each day, as follows: - Ten (10) minutes clean-up time prior to the lunch period." 8 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28,2005 "Travel time to and from lunch not to exceed twenty (20) minutes each day" has been stricken. The Union requested time to caucus at 3:15 p.m. The meeting reconvened at 3:22 p.m. The Union stated they originally thought they would be OK with the above language but they are not. The folks that get a one-half hour lunch have always been allowed to put the 2 fifteen minute breaks together and take an hour lunch. They would have to take one-half hour at lunch and then the breaks as directed. If the employee chose to take an hour lunch, they would have to stay one-half hour later in the day to make up for it. The Union also stated that the travel time to and from lunch is so people can get to their vehicles and then go to lunch. The City originally proposed removing it because those employees who have company vehicles could use them to pick up lunch close to where there are working. As long as they didn't use the company vehicles to go across town to do so, this item could be removed. The Union argued that they wanted to leave it in. The City agreed to rework the verbiage. Previous Article 16 - Time Records Stricken because pieces have been moved to other sections. Article 17 - Compensatory Time Section 17.2 - the City proposed to change "60 days" to "30 days". The Union argued to keep it "60 days". Section 17.3 - the City proposed to strike this section. The Union agreed citing it was already mentioned in Section 17.2. Article 18 - Wages Both sides agreed to skip this section. Article 19 - Promotion, Reclassifications, Transfers & Demotions The City struck this section's verbiage and proposed the following: Section 19.1 - PROMOTION 9 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 "19.1.1 - Employees interested in applying for a promotional opportunity must have been in their current position for a minimum of six months and have at least a meets standards performance level. Each promoted employee must successfully complete a six-month probationary period in the new position. Employees are eligible for the following increases in pay upon promotion: Promotion from non-exempt position to exempt position: + 10% of mid-point of new grade or to minimum of new grade whichever is higher Promotion of one qrade (exempt to exempt or non-exempt to non-exempt): +5% of mid-point of new grade or to minimum of new grade, which is higher Promotion of two Qrades (exempt to exempt or non-exempt to non-exempt): +7.5% of mid-point of new grade or to minimum of new grade, whichever is higher Promotion of three or more Qrades (exempt to exempt or non-exempt to non-exempt): + 10% of mid-point of new grade or to a minimum of new grade, which is higher 19.1.2 - In no event will the employee's base rate of pay exceed the maximum for the position to which the promotion is made. 19.1.3 - Each promoted employee must successfully complete a probationary period of six months from the date of promotion. Note: Applicants for promotion must have been in their current position for a minimum of six months and have a Meets Standards or higher performance rating. Section 19.2 - DEMOTION 19.2.1 - Upon demotion, an employee's rate of pay will be adjusted as follows: Decrease of one Qrade: -5% of mid-point of current grade (position leaving) 10 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 Decrease of two qrades: -7.5% of mid-point of current grade (position leaving) Decrease of three or more qrades: -10% of mid-point of current grade (position leaving) 19.2.2 - In no event will the employee's base rate of pay exceed the maximum for the position to which the demotion is made. 19.2.3 - The pay of a promoted employee who is demoted prior to completion of a probationary period will be reduced by the same amount as the promotional increase. 19.2.4 - Exceptions to this policy may occur if there is a department restructuring that results in an involuntary demotion for one or more employees. The City Manager must approve any restructuring and resulting demotions. Section 19.3 - LATERAL TRANSFER 19.3.1 - Employees transferring from one position to another in the same pay grade, whether in the same or in a different department, will maintain the same pay rate. 19.3.2 - Each transferred employee, whether in the same or a lower grade, must successfully complete a probationary period of six months from the date of transfer. Probationary employees, whether in their first year as an employee or in their six-month promotional probationary period have no property entitlement to their position. Section 19.4 - RECLASSIFICATION 19.4.1 - Positions may be considered for reclassification only upon written request of the Department Head, including detailed justification. If the reclassification is for a change to an existing position classification (e.g. Grade 13. to Grade 14), the incumbent must complete a position questionnaire, which will then be evaluated by the Human Resources Department. If the request is to change from one current position classification to another (e.g. Office Assistant to Office Assistant, Sr.), that justification must be included in the Department Head's request. 19.4.3 - Implementation of any reclassification, whenever approved will not become effective until the necessary funds are available in 11 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 the department budget. Any salary change required by a reclassification will become effective as of the date the reclassification is approved. Section 19.5 - PROMOTION FROM PART-TIME TO FULL-TIME 19.5.1 - Each promoted employee must successfully complete a probationary period of twelve months from the date of promotion. 19.5.2 - Upon successful completion of the probationary period, the probationary employee will be considered a regular employee." The City proposed this language because the results of any pay study performed might change job categories for a variety of reasons. The Union argued that the existing verbiage was also the result of arbitration and would like it to remain status quo. The existing language is effective for promotion, reclassifications, demotions, outside of an external study, which would be negotiated by the Union. The City will rework the section to include a note that reads, "Transition into a new pay plan would be subject to negotiation." Article 20 - Standby & Call Back Pay The City made no changes to this section other than removing a comma. The Union proposed language at the December 10 meeting stating "..the beeper had to be passed around (if somebody had to go to football game), then the person receiving the beeper gets that pay, not the person handing the beeper off." The Union stated that the take-home vehicle verbiage is also an issue. Requiring employees to live within the City boundaries, or within the utility service area, in order to be issued a take-home vehicle is not a fair requirement. In accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), an employee is "on the clock" from the moment he/she is called into work. If the employee has to use their personal vehicle to respond, because they live outside the City boundary or utility service area, the employee is required to have auto insurance that covers the vehicle for work purposes. This cost has been researched to be anywhere from $1,600 to $2,400 per year. The City stated they would research the FLSA requirement. 12 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28,2005 The Union said the language in this section was as a result of the FLSA requirement. Article 21 - Working in a Higher Class Previously T A'd. Article 22 - Employees assigned to Training Duties Previously TA'd. Article 23 - Emergency Pay Policy The Union stated that the language in the current contract is from the settlement of a grievance. The City reminded the Union that a City-wide declaration of local emergency and emergency pay ordinance is pending. Once it is received, the City will present to the Union for their approval. Article 24 - Certification Pay The City proposed adding language that reads: "Employees who currently have or who earn EMT certificates shall receive a one-time 5% wage increase upon initially earning the certificate." The Union agreed with the change. Article 25 - Sick Leave The City proposed adding language that reads: Section 25.1 "... one-half (1/2) hour before or after his/her ..." Mr. Pawelczyk recommended changing this to read"... up to one-half (1/2) hour after his/her..." "If an employee fails to call in within the specified time, the employee shall be in an unpaid status from the beginning of the work shift until the time that the notice of absence is provided to the Supervisor." The Union did not agree with this language because there are valid reasons someone is unable to call in sick and the employee should not be punished by 13 Meeting Minutes NCF&O Blue and White Collar Bargaining Boynton Beach, Florida January 28, 2005 being put into an unpaid status if the employee can prove there was valid reason for not being able to call. It was suggested that this language become part of the disciplinary procedures section and should include a list of infractions and what penalty they are equal to. The City put back Section 25.6, which referred to Family Medical Leave Act. The Union will proof this section in order to discuss it at the next meeting. Adjournment The negotiation session ended at 4:43 p.m. Next Meeting The next meeting will be on Thursday, January February 3 at 1 :00 p.m. at the Emergency Operations Center of the Utilities Department. Respectfully submitted, 14