Minutes 04-21-06
MINUTES OF THE WHITE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN
THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON
BEACH, HELD ON FRIDAY, APRIL 21,2006 AT 10:00A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B,
CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA
For the City of Boynton Beach
For NCF&O
Sharon Goebelt, Director of Human Resources
John Jordan, Asst. Director of Human Resources
Bobby Jenkins, Assistant Director of Finance
Sharon Munley, Trustee, Local 1227 NCF&O
Skip Lewis, Chief Steward, Code
Monique Lewis, Communications
Jim Macintyre, Fire Department
Call to Order
Ms. Goebelt called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. A sign-in sheet was circulated and
provided to the Recording Secretary. Self-introductions were made. Ms. Munley indicated Mr.
Rob Eichorst was also now a steward, but was not at this meeting. Ms. Goebelt asked Ms.
Munley to notify her in writing of new Union stewards.
Ms. Goebelt then announced that Mr. Jordan would be leaving the City the following week to
take up a position as Human Resources Director in Hollywood, Florida. His successor would
become part of the team, if hired during the negotiation period. Optional members of the team
would be Jim Cherof, City Attorney, Wilfred Hawkins, Assistant City Manager, and Bill Mummert,
Finance Director.
The ground rules for bargaining were delineated by Ms. Goebelt and understood by the Union
through former labor management meetings. Ms. Munley added that prior notice should be
given to the other party if an attorney were to be invited to the table. Also, she felt at least two
meetings should be set at the conclusion of each meeting.
Ms. Munley desired to set a date for the final proposal to come to the table, usually the third or
fourth meeting. Ms. Goebelt said the City had gone to all the departments and had them look at
the contract and the City's proposal was a result of that feedback. She did not know if anything
further would come up, but thought the final proposal could be on the table by the fourth
meeting. Ms. Munley committed to the same.
Ms. Munley declared when they left the table before, the Union expressed a desire to roll over
this contract and just do wages for two years with a reopener in the third year. Ms. Goebelt
said they were hoping for a three-year contract.
Article 14 - Basic Workweek and Overtime
Ms. Goebelt distributed the City's revised article, which showed the deleted language and the
revised language. Her program did not include the strikeover feature.
Section 14.3 mirrors the exact language in the Blue Collar contract, that only hours worked
would be counted for the purpose of calculating overtime.
Meeting Minutes
White Collar Union Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
April 21, 2006
Section 14.7 contains a clarification of tardy. It now reads, "Employees who are tardy (which is
6 minutes or less) or late (7 minutes or more) may be subject to progressive discipline."
Article 15 - Compensatory Time
Ms. Goebelt noted the language was revised due to what the City felt was contradictory
language. Ms. Munley believed the existing language was meant to convey the workers had 60
days to use the comp time before the City converted it to pay. Ms. Goebelt felt the phrase
"must be used" in reference to comp time was contradictory.
The bottom line was that 60 days after accrual of comp time, the City could decide whether to
convert the comp time to payor not.
Mr. Lewis commented that formerly, Finance had a hard time keeping track of comp time and
he wondered if that had changed. Mr. Jenkins commented each department was doing its own
tracking of comp time. Mr. Jordan commented the City wanted to standardize the application of
the contract guidelines from department to department.
Ms. Munley did not believe the language was meant to be contradictory. The law allows the
employer to say whether they want to have comp time or not. The Union was trying to say you
could accrue comp time at the same rate as overtime, but it was supposed to be used in a 60-
day period. She agreed "must" might not have been the right word.
Ms. Goebelt asked Ms. Munley to bring back language she thought was clearer. Ms. Munley
suggested saying, "Employees should use their comp time within 60 days, or the City may
convert it to time and a half." Mr. MacIntyre felt that language was against the Union. The
matter was left open pending further discussion among the membership.
Article 16 - Wages
Ms. Goebelt explained each section of this article.
Section 16.1 Mirrors the Blue Collar agreement, that effective October 1, 2006,
bargaining unit employees shall receive a 5% market adjustment added to base wage.
Section 16.2: Effective April 1, 2007, bargaining unit employees shall receive the
following performance evaluation wage increases added to base wage: A) Those who obtain
performance evaluation scores of 2.0 or higher will receive a base wage increase equal to the
score, not to exceed 4%; B) For those who obtain a performance evaluation score below 2.0,
no wage increase will be applied.
Section 16.3: Effective October 1, 2007, contingent upon Commission approval,
bargaining unit employees shall receive a 5% market adjustment added to base wage. This was
in sync with the MGT recommendations.
Ms. Munley confirmed with Ms. Goebelt that the wage increases were indeed dependent on
Commission approval year by year. Ms. Munley had never had language like that. Usually, the
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Meeting Minutes
White Collar Union Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
April 21, 2006
contract was put together for a set period of time and approved by the Commission following
Union ratification. With this kind of language, negotiations might have to resume if the
Commission did not approve the wage stipulations.
Section 16.4
as section 16.2).
Effective April 1, 2008, bargaining unit employees shall receive (the same
Section 16.5 Effective October 1, 2008, contingent on Commission approval,
bargaining unit employees shall receive a 2% market adjustment added to base wage (in sync
with the MGT recommendations).
Section 16.6 Effective April 1, 2009, bargaining unit employees shall receive the
following performance evaluation wage increases added to base wage (same as section 16.2).
Article 23 - Sick Leave
Ms. Goebelt explained the City proposed increasing the 30-minute (prior to start of normal work
time) notification to management to one hour for regular employees and two hours for the
Communications Department. This proposed change was based on feedback from the
departments indicating the 30-minute notification period was not sufficient.
Article 26 - Vacation
Ms. Goebelt stated departmental feedback to the current contract language was that the time
for approving or denying vacation requests, in the current contract, was too short.
In section 26.4, the length of time in which vacation requests must be approved or denied was
changed from one day from the date of the request to two days (for requests of 3 shifts or less)
and within two weeks (instead of one week) of the day the request is made (for requests for 4
shifts or more). Vacation requests of two or more weeks require at least 30 days notification.
Ms. Munley felt that 30 days was too long for approval or denial of a vacation request of two
weeks.
Ms. Munley asked Ms. Goebelt to provide the contract, with revisions, on disk, and she agreed
to do so.
Article 40 - General Provisions
Ms. Goebelt pointed to section 40.3, saying the City did not know the number of uniform pieces
that were allocated to the employees previously and wanted to have this clearly spelled out by
job and by department. Ms. Goebelt asked the Union to provide such a list, since there seemed
to be some confusion about it.
Ms. Goebelt's presentation of the City's proposal was completed.
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Meeting Minutes
White Collar Union Bargaining Session
Boynton Beach, Florida
April 21, 2006
Mr. Lewis questioned why the Commission couldn't approve the wages now as part of the
contract and not have them pending each year of the contract. He noted Fire and Police
obtained three-year contracts. Ms. Goebelt responded the City knew what MGT recommended,
but did not know whether enough funds were available to cover those recommendations.
Ms. Munley said if the contract were approved now, including wages, and the City did not have
enough money to fund it, the City did have an "out" and it could be bargained.
Future Meetings
May 17, 2006, 10:00 a.m., place TBD
May 31, 2006, 10:00 a.m., place TBD
June 9, 2006, 2:00 p.m., place TBD
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
~~~;-
Susan Collins
Recording Secretary
(042106)
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