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Minutes 05-31-06 " MINUTES OF THE WHITE COLLAR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING SESSION BETWEEN THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF FIREMEN & OILERS AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 31,2006 AT 10:00 A.M. IN CONFERENCE ROOM B, CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA Present: For the City of Boynton Beach For NCF&O Sharyn Goebelt, Director of HR Bobby Jenkins, Assistant Director of Finance Sharon Munley, Trustee, Local 1227 NCF&O Skip Lewis, Chief Steward, Code The meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. and introductions were made. A sign-in sheet was circulated. Ms. Goebelt presented the City's current proposals by article. Article 12 - Progressive Discipline Ms. Goebelt mentioned that the City's proposal was consistent with what was in the Blue Collar contract and in the PPM. One change was made to the Progressive Discipline policy, 12.2.6, and that was basically what could and could not be grieved. The H.R. Director would make the final decision. The proposal read that counseling, written reprimands, or suspensions without or without pay of one workday or less were not subject to grievance. The H.R. Director would review requests from the employee and render a decision. Ms. Munley indicated she had given two proposals to the City about this article, pertaining to the term insubordination. One proposal had a definition from Black's Law Dictionary for insubordination so people who said, "I don't want to do that," could be written up when they were simply responding. The people who had been written up for insubordination had actually done what they were told to do, ultimately. Ms. Goebelt responded the language was the same as in the contract and the City chose not to change it. The language was the same in the PPM. Mr. Jenkins noted that if an employee felt he was being unfairly treated, he or she had recourse to the Human Resources Department. Ms. Goebelt stated when she received calls about discipline issues, she was now asking everyone about the supervisor's role in the issue. She hoped this would begin to make a difference in the education process. Article 14 - Basic Work Week and Overtime The Union asked that holidays be included to count towards calculating overtime. Ms. Goebelt checked on other contracts (PBA, Blue Collar) and discussed it with the City Manager. It was felt there should be consistency among the City's contracts and the City chose not to include holidays. The Union asked for an opportunity to discuss this item. Meeting Minutes White Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida May 31, 2006 Article 15 - Comp Time Ms. Goebelt read the new language in 15.2 that stated, "Employees may accumulate up to 80 hours of compensatory time. At no time may an employee accumulate more than 80 hours of compensatory time. Compensatory time may be taken as earned, subject to the approval of the head of the Department, who shall schedule the time off to meet the operating requirements of the Department. Ms. Munley indicated the Union needed the first sentence of 15.2 to be put back in. The City's proposal had stricken that. The City agreed to leave the original sentence. Article 16 - Wages The City removed the language, "subject to Commission approval" from this proposal, at the Union's request. In summary, the proposal included · 5% 10/1/06 · 2-4%, 04/1/07, depending on review; same 4/1/08; same 4/1/09 · 5%, 10/1/07 · 2%, 10/1/08 Also, promoted employees who are on probation and have not been in the position for six months on April 1 will receive consideration for a merit increase at the end of their six months' probation. These terms were not in any other contract. Ms. Munley needed to discuss this with Mr. Lewis. Article 23 - Sick Leave After discussing this with the managers, the City determined that one hour's notification of illness to the supervisor prior to the start of the employee's shift would be satisfactory. The Communications Supervisor strongly felt that two hours notice would be required in the 911 Dispatch area. The City agreed, saying it was a special area that worked 24/7. Positions in 911 could not be left unattended like in many other departments. Ms. Munley was very much against having two tiers of benefits just because 911 employees had to have two hours of notice and everyone else had one hour. She wanted to see consistency for everyone on this. She did not want the Communications employees treated differently than anyone else. Ms. Goebelt asked whether they could accept an hour and a half for everyone, across the board. Ms. Munley said they would discuss it, but whatever it was, it had to be the same for everybody. The Union believed an hour and a half notice would lead to people being written up if they called in an hour and fifteen minutes, for example, instead of an hour and a half. Sometimes it 2 Meeting Minutes White Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida May 31, 2006 might not be possible to call in at exactly the right time. Ms. Goebelt was in the process of instituting training, supervisor/steward training. The Union, the stewards, and the supervisors would get together and have a class. Ms. Munley asked that the Police and Fire contracts be reviewed to see what their practices were and Ms. Goebelt agreed to do this. Article 26 - Vacation The City's proposal called for vacation requests of two or more weeks requiring at least twenty- one calendar days notification to management. The Union had already tentatively agreed that vacation requests of three shifts or less must be requested and approved or denied within two days of the work shift the day the request is made. Vacation requests of four shifts or more must be requested and approved or denied within one week of the day the request is made. Vacation requests of two or more weeks require at least twenty-one calendar days notification. This was the subject of much discussion. The Union was desirous of receiving a yes or no from the manager in a certain time frame. The employee needed time to plan, make reservations, and so forth. Ms. Munley felt that the vast majority of employees would notify management way in advance of two-week vacation requests. Ms. Goebelt said that had actually been a problem in that some employees were asking at the last minute. The idea of having management provide a yes or no answer to the employees within seven days of the request was suggested. Ms. Goebelt needed to caucus on the 7-day approval by management issue. Ms. Munley declared if the City put in language to the effect management would approve or deny the request within 7 calendar days of receiving it, the Union would accept it. Article 40 - General Provisions Section 40.3, Uniforms, was discussed. Ms. Goebelt believed the list of departments and uniforms in 40 might not be complete. She did not want to miss anyone. She thought with such specific language, it would possibly exclude someone. Ms. Goebelt had called all the Departments, but asked for help from the Union if anyone was missed. In the course of the discussion, it was agreed that anyone whose job took them outside the building should be issued baseball caps and jackets. Ms. Munley thought that anyone who went outside should have the same number and type of shirts, pants, jackets and caps. Ms. Goebelt declared the White Collar Fire Department uniforms were not itemized because the Fire Department's uniform specifications were extremely detailed. Instead, the article simply refers to the Fire Department policy. The cost of all uniforms shall be borne by the City. Ms. Munley thought the Blue Collar unit got jackets every other year instead of every year as shown in the City's proposal. Mr. Lewis commented that the Code Enforcement employees did not use the pants that were in the warehouse because no one liked them. If the type were 3 Meeting Minutes White Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida May 31, 2006 changed, the Code Enforcement officers would probably use them and would need 3 pair a year. Ms. Munley and Ms. Goebelt agreed consistency was important. Ms. Munley inquired why the 911 Communications staff did not get pants. This was not answered. Ms. Goebelt would have to discuss this with Development, because they were currently receiving 7 shirts. Ms. Munley later said to leave the pants as they were in the proposal - give six shirts to everyone; make jackets bi-annual; and give everybody who goes outside two baseball caps. Six polo shirts would be provided to those who were not required to wear specialty uniforms. 40.4 regarding shoes would be left as it was. Article 50 - Posting the Agreement Rob Eichorst was to follow up on this item and he was not present. Ms. Goebelt spoke to someone in the Police Department who advised her the employees in the Police Department were able to view the contract on the Internet. Ms. Munley said if this could be confirmed, they would not have to change the article. Article 52 - Duration This article had to be edited to reflect a three-year agreement. The parties caucused at approximately 10:45 a.m. and resumed at 11:00 a.m. Ms. Munley stated on Progressive Discipline, the Union would be willing to withdraw their proposal on Article 12 if the City withdrew its proposal for Article 12. Ms. Goebelt could not say she would do this. She had to discuss this with management. Ms. Munley believed there had only been one grievance from a white-collar employee in the last year. Ms. Goebelt responded that in the last month there had been two. Ms. Munley declared they had originated in the department that needed work. Ms. Goebelt asked if they could insert language that said reprimands and counseling could not be grieved. That was realistic. Ms. Munley said she could accept that. Ms. Goebelt thought she could take out suspensions from 12.2.6, and Ms. Munley thought that could be acceptable. Ms. Munley said in the past, they would say they could not be arbitrated. That still allowed them to go through the steps of the grievance. They could have gone back to the supervisor who initiated it and hopefully changed that person's mind, for example. Ms. Munley said they would T.A. on Article 14. Ms. Munley said they would T.A. on Article 15, with the understanding the first sentence about how it was accrued would be left in. Ms. Munley said they would T.A. on Article 16. The issue of one hour vs. two hours for 911 employees was not acceptable. The Union wanted one standard for everybody. 4 Meeting Minutes White Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida May 31, 2006 Ms. Munley said they could T.A. on Article 26 if the City responded with an acceptable period of time in which the supervisor had to respond to the employee's request in 26.4. Ms. Munley agreed to Article 40 per the discussion at this meeting. Ms. Goebelt had to verify the changes discussed at this meeting with the departments. Ms. Munley felt the Union's proposal on Article 50 could be dropped because everyone agreed all employees had to have access to the contract and would work to make that happen. It did not need to say, "including Police employees." The City agreed. Ms. Munley declared the Union was happy with Article 52 on the three-year duration. Ms. Munley said she was deeply concerned with the Progressive Discipline language. She believed not having the ability to arbitrate suspensions was against the "level playing field." If they did not have that ability, they had no "muscle." It seemed to Ms. Munley that when this was done in the Blue Collar, everyone was suddenly getting one-day suspensions. Ms. Goebelt asked when this had come into the contract and Ms. Munley thought it was at the impasse meeting. Ms. Munley mentioned they would probably see a few more grievances from the White Collar group than in the past, because Mr. Lewis was a very good steward. She hoped they would be having smarter grievances in the future. Next Meeting June 9, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. in Conference Room B. Adiournment The meeting ended at 11:27 a.m. Respectfully submitted, ~~ Susan Collins Recording Secretary (053106) 5