Loading...
Minutes 03-30-05 CONTRACTUAL NEGOTIATION MEETING BETWEEN IAFF LOCAL 1891 AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH HELD ON WEDNESDAY MARCH 30TH, 2005 AT 9:00 A.M., IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present For IAFF: Dean Kinser, President Robert Kruse, Vice President Larry Lederhandler, Treasurer Thomas Murphy Jr., Secretary J. C. Julia, Business Agent Kevin Nugent, Division Chief/Training Barkley Garnsey, Information Command Coordinator For the City: Bill Bingham, Fire Chief John Jordan, Assistant Director of Human Resources Ray Carter, Deputy Chief of Operations Called To Order The meeting was called to order at 9:06 a.m. A sign-in sheet was circulated and presented to the Clerk for inclusion with the record of the meeting. Discussion Mr. Bingham, started the meeting by going through basic rules to comply with during the negotiating process. Mr. Kinser stated they have developed some of the Interest Based Bargaining Worksheets, and they hope to put all the articles on the table so both parties will leave knowing the ones they will be dealing with during the negotiation process. Mr. Bingham pointed out although there were nine or ten worksheets, some of the items can be worked out outside of the collective bargaining process. Mr. Bingham stated there was a copy of a letter sent from President Kinser on February 21st, with regard to opening contract negotiations. A letter was sent Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 back to President Kinser on March 8th indicating the City is willing to negotiate. He distributed a copy of the meeting notice for records. Mr. Bingham suggested they meet every two weeks and stated he will take care of having the meetings posted. · Recognition Article Mr. Bingham pOinted out the recognition article does not identify who is in the collective bargaining unit process. There were staff changes during the course of the year and some new positions need to be added. He has made clerical changes with regard to a tentative agreement statement and included some of the positions that have been added to the department that would not be a part of the IAFF. There was one outstanding issue with this in the wage article relating to the Deputy Fire Marshall. That position no longer exists in the department and therefore they no longer need the caveat in the salary portion of the contract. Mr. Kinser stated the Union would like the Battalion Chiefs put back into the Union. Over the past nine years since the Battalion Chiefs have been taken out of the union, there is still a position that works the 24-hour schedule. There is a more logical benefit for that position being in the Union from the standpoint of creating a labor management environment. Mr. Bingham stated it was easier to deal with his issue on the recognition article first. He said most of the people they have hired are under personal contract and asked if there were any problems with his recommendations. Mr. Garnsey pointed out one of the difficulties they've had is giving well-qualified individuals that are already employed by the department some of the positions which are outside of the Union. Therefore, if the language is included and they choose to stay within the protection of the benefits of the Union, it will be difficult getting these well-qualified individuals for those positions in the future. Mr. Bingham suggested they include some language that excluded those people hired under an agreement contract, which would make it pOSSible for someone to move into one of those positions and maintain their status as an IAFF member. Mr. Bingham stated the issue of eliminating the Battalion Chiefs from the collective bargaining agreement goes back about eight years, through the former City Manager, the former Fire Chief, and the former Union President. He was 2 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 hired the day before and his job at the time was to sign off on the agreement, and the Union had no opposition to it at the time. To his understanding, there was a concession given at the previous contract negotiations with regard to Battalion Chiefs being removed from the collective bargaining unit process. Mr. Kinser pointed out it was on March 20, 1997 when the initial letter of understanding came into play with the Battalion Chiefs. There was reorganization in the fire department, and that led to the issue with the Battalion Chiefs. They were excluded from the contract language because it was decided that their positions would remain administrative. He stated the department had gone through major attrition in the last eight years, and through this, there are capable individuals within the department who are willing to take the job as Battalion Chief, but are hesitant because they are excluded from the union and are exempt employee status. They have started to promote younger Battalion Chiefs who have between fourteen and seventeen years, which means there is a period of three to six years that they are fully invested within the pension system. That of course is a determining factor when accepting a position. Right now, by accepting a Battalion Chief's position they will become a contracted employee. Through the last three buyouts, changes in the City and reorganizations have been seen, and that is one determining factor for putting the Battalion Chiefs back into the Union. Mr. Kinser also pOinted out that over the past nine years with his involvement with the Union, any issues he has had with the Battalion Chiefs could have been avoided if they were in the Union. Mr. Bingham questioned how the transition would work if the City were to give consideration to the matter. Mr. Kinser stated they put down a proposal on their worksheet. He would like to have the Battalion Chiefs 100 percent under the union but he has to be realistic and look at the potential problems it may cause. They have sat down as the negotiating team and come up with the best idea that there is probably going to have to be a transitional status. They have conceded to accept a transitional status of putting the new Battalion Chiefs into the Union, if the City is willing to accept. Mr. Bingham stated they would go through a period of time where a Battalion Chief may be in or out of Union. Mr. Kinser pointed out one of the considerations used in coming up with this worksheet is that there are three Battalion Chiefs who are in the DROP Plan and are departing soon; the first within the next couple of months. This will leave 3 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 two Battalion Chiefs who have departure times within the next 2 years. From their standpoint through this three-year contract they are proposing, all the Battalion Chiefs would be recognized in the union through the promotional status of the other two Battalion Chiefs leaving. Mr. Carter stated he had concerns about shift supervision. He pOinted out the Battalion Chiefs are managers who manage the entire shift. The supervisor personnel are the Lieutenants and Captains. From that standpoint, Battalion Chiefs clearly have managerial functions and that is one of the determining factors as to whether they will be inside or outside the bargaining unit. His other major concern is how he will manage a group of employees with that kind of responsibility and tell them that some of them will get different benefits than others, but expect them all to do exactly the same job during the transition period. How will he keep the imbalance from affecting their performance. Since three chiefs are going to be retired within the current proposed collective bargaining agreement, if the decision is to go that direction, it would be better to make that clear and clean break at the term of this collective bargaining agreement, then simply include all three Battalion Chiefs at the same time who would be newly promoted within the last three years. That way they will all be getting equal pay and benefits and clearly the line of responsibility is the same for all of them. Mr. Bingham stated the only issue that has ever come up with the existing Battalion Chiefs is overtime, because they do not get paid overtime. Mr. Jordan said the issue seemed to be the benefits of the Battalion Chief and not the functions of the Battalion Chief. He questioned whether the Battalion Chiefs are in or out of the Union, how it will affect their ability to do their job. He also asked why they were pulled out of the Union. Mr. Kinser reiterated there was reorganization within the department prior to most of the Administrative staff's time there, back when Chief Jordan was fire chief. Those Captains who were there were slated to the Battalion Chief position. He was not involved with a lot of the literature and language and the negotiations at that time and he did not know what concessions were made at the negotiating table. The City's standpoint was that they wanted the Battalion Chiefs out of the Union. Mr. Garnsey stated he remembered hearing a part of that decision to change the title to Chief as opposed to Captains is they would be eligible to go to more nationally recognized academies for training. 4 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 Mr. Kinser said the relationship the Union has with the City and their current administration was not there back then. There was a solid barrier between the two organizations and he thought it caused for a lot of the problems within the fire department. Mr. Bingham stated there was a City Manager at the time whose philosophy was she would not be happy until everybody was out of the Union and signed a personal contract. Mr. Kinser questioned where the administration would put a newly promoted Battalion Chief as far as paCkage and wage. There is parity amongst the three current Battalion Chiefs for wage. Mr. Bingham stated the downside of doing everything at once at the end of the agreement, is they are going to promote the new Chiefs with the management paCkage and then have to recalculate everything and revert them to whatever is agreed upon at the collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Kinser suggested they take time to review everything and revisit the topic at a later date. · Payroll Deductions Mr. Kinser stated the current language reads that the individual is to notify the union treasurer of such request for revoking their dues. The Union is proposing they want the individual to notify the Union treasurer in writing. (Recess was declared at 10.'20 a.m.) (The meeting reconvened at 10:29 a.m.) · Article 18 - Compassionate Leave Mr. Kinser stated the Union proposed to include a clarification and some language of children under compassionate leave, and adding in stepchildren, stepfather and stepmother. Even though an individual may not have legally adopted children, they may have remarried and been with those children from a very young age. Mr. Bingham stated their issue with the same article. Compassionate leave is a benefit offered by the City and they have issues with the verification of death as a requirement. In some cases there was extreme difficulty in getting a death notice document in time, and what they normally do is give employees a 5 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 vacation day so they would not lose any pay and then once the note comes in, it is transferred to compassionate leave. In some cases, it has taken several months to get this documentation and in most cases employees have it but are just not giving it to them. He suggested they include language stating, "the payroll clerk must receive a verification of death within 30 days of the date of the compassionate leave of absence. Failure to obtain that documentation within the stated time frame will result in denial of compassionate leave approval, and the permanent debiting of vacation time." He wanted to put some language in there that lets employees know that it is a benefit and not an entitlement and with some benefits comes criteria which must be followed. The personal responsibility in this particular case is the submission of a note verifying the death in the family, and that it be received within 30 days from the date they take the time off. Both Mr. Bingham and Mr. Kinser stated they would review the concerns and come up with some proposed language for the next meeting. Article 38 - Compensatory Time Mr. Bingham stated their issue has to deal with the compensatory time limit. There is a sixty-hour maximum on compensatory time, and many employees are going over this time. The challenge is to keep the compensatory time viable but still keep the overtime budget in check because that is where it is impacting. They are having problems with the overtime budget again this year and issues like this will continue to cause this problem in future years. The goal is to set a limit on how much compensatory time can be accrued and how it is paid. The options are: 1. Prohibit employees with fifty or more compensatory hours in the bank from participating in compensatory time activity. 2. Place a time limit by when compensatory time may be used; i.e. each hour earned must be used within sixty days of the day earned. 3. Raise the overtime budget to cover any overage. 4. Time either not used in sixty days or determined that it cannot be used due to unavailability of time will cause the employee to lose compensatory time provisions. He stated the tentative agreement states that once an employee reaches fifty hours of his or her compensatory time account, that individual has sixty days to bring that level down to the amount of hours equal to what the last entry was; which placed the accrual to the fifty hours. 6 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida March 30, 2005 Mr. Kinser stated they had lots of issues with compensatory time. He proposed to raise the maximum compensatory time up to even twenty-four hour increments. Compensatory time is developed for some type of department activity, and he would like to keep it in multiples of twenty-four or twelve. Mr. Carter questioned the reason for proposing to change the compensatory hours from sixty to one hundred and forty-four. Mr. Bingham pointed out if there is already a problem with sixty hours, what will happen next year when they have the issue of dealing with one hundred and forty four hours. He did not think changing the hours was the answer. He stated he was not necessarily opposed to raising the limit but there may be other options, otherwise, they may be creating a problem at a higher level and at greater expense. Mr. Dean said they found the biggest impact was that employees are accruing their compensatory time because of projects that are going on within the department. The department does not pay time and a half for a lot of these projects, and they feel sixty is a low number. Mr. Kinser stated he understood their position as far as tracking compensatory time and keeping a grasp on it so it does not get out of control. He said they would still like them to look at their proposal to raise the amount of compensatory time. They will review everything said and come back at the next negotiation meeting with some language and hopefully come to an agreement. Mr. Bingham stated Article 4 dealt with Time and a Half, which was all right. Article 8 was pertaining to Kelly day selections. Article 11 dealt with physical examinations and specifically addressed a particular problem, and he did not think it needed to show up in the union contract. His concern is that some employees are supposed to be going back for physicals and do not go. Therefore, they have no idea whether they are fit for duty. Article 14 dealt with restricted sick leave. Sick leave should be used for legitimate purposes. Article 16 talked about allowing shift swaps, and there seems to be an issue for swapping for equal credentials. Schedules were discussed and it was decided the next meeting would be held on Tuesday, April 12th 2005, from 1 - 3 p.m. 7 Meeting Minutes IAFF Negotiations Boynton Beach, Florida The meeting adjourned at 11:18 a.m. Respectfully submitted, CCt<iJ~. Catherine Wharton Recording Secretary (April 5, 2005) March 30, 2005 8