Loading...
Minutes 12-13-11 MINUTES OF THE BLUE COLLAR MEETING BETWEEN THE SEIU FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICES UNION, AND THE CITY OF BOYNTON BEACH HELD ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2011 AT 1:00 P.M. AT FIRE STATION #5, 2080 HIGH RIDGE ROAD, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: For the City of Boynton Beach For SEIU Julie Oldbury, Human Resources Director Joseph Brenner, Deputy Dir., SEIU Tim Howard, Assistant Finance Director Mike Osborn, SEIU, PSU Arlene Barton, Human Resources Project Manager Don Roberts, SEIU, PSU D. Greg Russell, SEIU Julie Oldbury, Human Resources Director, opened the bargaining session at 1:11 p.m. and explained this was a union negotiation meeting to address the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Ms. Oldbury thanked everyone for their patience in the process of the negotiations. She advised since the last meeting, she received direction from the City on some areas that were discussed. She wanted to go through the articles and at the next meeting, perhaps have the contract and language ready to tentatively agree upon and continue discussions on anything necessary at that point. Joseph Brenner, Deputy Director, SEIU commented that the intent of the negotiations were not necessarily to have a proposal as it was pretty late in the game. Neither side wanted to close anything, certain items could be possible, but that was not the intent. Ms. Oldbury proceeded to review each article and provide discussion, if necessary. The following articles were either status quo and not discussed or had minor grammatical changes where the intent would remain the same. Article 1 Preamble Article 2 Recognition Article 4 Management Rights Article 5 Strikes Article 6 Non - Discrimination Article 7 Representation of the City Article 8 Union Representation — since a Section 2 was referenced, she added Section 8.3 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Article 9 Collective Bargaining Article 10 Union Time Pool Article 11 Bulletin Boards Article 15 Task Assignment — Solid Waste Article 16 Work Breaks Article 17 Compensatory Time (Discussed with Article 14) Article 21 Working in a Higher Class Article 22 Employees Assigned to Training Article 23 Emergency Pay Policy Article 26 Workers Compensation Article 32 Military Leave Article 37 Recruitment and Selection Article 45 Dues Deduction (although no discussion, Union may come back with wording on being given notice on certain things) Article 51 Modification of Conditions Article 3, Rights of Employees Ms. Oldbury wished to confirm that if a discipline was already decided, an employee would not need the union representative to be present. This was not for the investigatory portion, only if something had already been decided. There was discussion for clarification and Mr. Brenner wanted the language to state that an employee had the freedom to contact a union representative at any time. Article 12, Progressive Discipline Ms. Oldbury advised that although most language would be kept intact, she proposed a change to the organization of this Article. She also advised that due to recent legislation, the item dealing with possession of a firearm or concealed weapon on City property would have to be changed. She would add language that would not override the State's authority. As a slight change, performance issues would be addressed at the time they occur, rather than waiting until an evaluation. There was discussion and consensus that changing the way discipline matters were handled would be beneficial to everyone. Equal time should be given to praising employees for a job well done as well as reprimanding employees for issues. Mr. Osborn stated that a big issue was the pay for performance. An employee evaluated when money was attached was suddenly reviewed as mediocre, whereas the past years without monetary gain, an employee was exemplary. Ms. Oldbury stated she would try to move away from the current system and move forward to make changes and possibly institute it as a pilot program in case it did not work out. Ms. Oldbury stated Section 12.3, Procedures for Disciplinary Action, would be reworded and the section reformatted. She also made reference to the verbal warning wording under 2 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Procedure. She felt the point was valid but did not feel it belonged under Discipline. There was discussion on the verbal counseling versus written reprimands and that verbal warnings should not be disciplinary. There was discussion on the area referencing suspension without pay. Ms. Oldbury suggested reducing the immediate supervisor's right to issue one working day or less, rather than two working days or less. Mr. Osborn commented that there was not a problem with the two -day suspensions. A two -day suspension could be grieved, whereas a one day could not. He advised that supervisors use the one -day suspensions freely so that an issue could not be grieved. Ms. Oldbury suggested amending the contract so that if there was arbitration, it would go to Human Resources before it went to an arbitrator. Mr. Brenner advised he will work on changing the language of that section. In the Demotions section of the Article, Ms. Oldbury advised this would be a disciplinary demotion and she would reword this portion of the section. Under Dismissal, there was discussion on the procedure of delivering the notice to an employee. She did not want it to be an in- person delivery. There was discussion on the best method to inform an employee of a possible dismissal. Article 13, Grievance and Arbitration Procedures At the end of the article, section 13.8, the term "day" should be consistent throughout. Ms. Oldbury also mentioned the arbitrator's fee and inquired whether it could remain the same for one more contract as far as sharing the expenses. Article 14, Basic Work Week and Overtime Ms. Oldbury wished to clarify that overtime would be paid if an employee worked in excess of 40 hours. Currently, it could be misconstrued to state that it would be paid only if authorized by the City. It should be clear that no matter if it was authorized and approved, an employee would be paid overtime for any hours worked in excess of 40 hours. At the supervisor's discretion, comp time within the work week could be offered to be more flexible. There was discussion on the comp time issue and the issues it may cause with Payroll. Ms. Oldbury would draft language for review addressing all the issues discussed. There was also discussion on varying work week schedules and flex time where the supervisor would suggest the employee leave early or arrive late. The union's opinion was that it was not a fair practice across the board and should not be considered mandatory. Ms. Oldbury opined the City should be afforded the ability to use flex time when practical. Some used it and some did not and she wanted conforming contracts. She would develop language to this effect. 3 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Article 18, Wages Ms. Oldbury advised she received direction from the City that there would be no increase in wages or lump sum payments. There was a wage freeze for this fiscal year. Article 19, Promotions, Reclassifications, Transfers & Demotions This demotion portion was already discussed in regard to moving it out of the disciplinary section. There was no other discussion. Article 20, Standby and Call Back Pay Ms. Oldbury advised she reviewed what the Union had proposed, under Standby Pay regarding not including sick time. She advised it could be worked into the language. As far as Call Back Pay, Ms. Oldbury confirmed that the union was looking for something that mirrored the PPM language. Mr. Osborn gave numerous examples. He explained the current process and what the union was looking for and gave suggestions what could be done to ease the financial impact to the City. Article 24, Certification Pay Ms. Oldbury advised the City was suspending Certification Pay for this contract and possibly for a future time frame. There was discussion on how Water Plant Operators were handled when their license was procured. When a license is received, it was a part of their job description. Ms. Oldbury advised she would not make recommendations to make changes at this time but to keep the option to build it as a career progression for them as well as others. Article 25, Sick Pay Ms. Oldbury advised there was concern and perception with people walking out of the public sector with sick leave accrual checks. She advised the City proposed to stop paying out sick leave for employees hired on or after October 1, 2012. This would not include transferred employees. Mr. Brennan advised the Union would come back with a counter offer. Regarding Leave Donations in Section 25.7.2, a statement stating that sick leave exceeding three consecutive work days required medical certification upon return to work, Ms. Oldbury wanted to move this section to 25.6, more in conjunction with sick leave. In addition, the City proposed the medical certification be submitted to Human Resources upon return to work. The Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) stated that when an employee was absent for more than three days, it would be a trigger for Human Resources to provide information on FMLA. In addition, this would provide assurances that there were no work restrictions. 4 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Regarding the section, Restricted Sick Leave, Ms. Oldbury felt if someone was abusing sick leave that could be addressed through Article 12. An example was given and discussion ensued. Ms. Oldbury would propose to delete this section. Tim Howard left the meeting at 3:50 p.m. There was further discussion on the sick leave. Sick leave was likened to insurance, whereas vacation leave was a true benefit. Mr. Brennan opined that because there are less people employed, there was more productivity expected with the remaining employees, pushing some to the edge so that the sick time could be used. However, there was feeling that if they did, they would be punished. There was more discussion and conflicting arguments. Ms. Oldbury felt that giving bonus vacation hours for not taking sick time was a reason for people to come to work sick. She wanted a benefits program that made sense for all employees Citywide. The City had issues with paying out for sick time. Mr. Russell left the meeting at 4:02 p.m. Article 27, Light Duty Ms. Oldbury wanted the last sentence of the article revised as it appeared to suggest an infinite time frame. There would be a proposal presented to eliminate that portion of the statement. There was discussion on the policy of light duty in general, the differences between being injured inside and outside of work, and the possibility of totally eliminating light duty for injuries occurring outside of work. Ms. Oldbury was cognizant of the state legislation on accommodation and whether that would involve conflict. There were examples presented and a more uniform policy would be worked on. Article 28, Vacation Ms. Oldbury had nothing to change but commented there was an influx in the emergency cashing in of vacation and thought it could be due to the economy. Article 29, Bonus Hours and Bonus Increases Ms. Oldbury stated she wished to keep this open for future possibilities of other incentives so employees could use sick time responsibly. Nothing else was discussed on this Article. Article 30, Holidays Ms. Oldbury advised the City would present a proposal to reduce the paid holidays from 11 to nine. One holiday costs the City $187,000 for all employees. She will provide the specific cost per unit. The proposal would include President's Day and Christmas Eve. The City would be closed, but an employee would not be paid for the day unless personal time was used. There was discussion and the Union would come back with a counter proposal. 5 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Article 31, Compassionate Leave Ms. Oldbury agreed with the Union suggestion to add in step - parent and step - child, but added that registered domestic partner should be included. Palm Beach County had a procedure for how to register domestic partner status. Article 33, Leave of Absence Ms. Oldbury suggested before a person was given unpaid leave, they exhaust their leave that was on the books, both vacation and sick time. For technicality purposes, this would not count towards suspensions, etc. Article 34, Unauthorized Absence Specifically in Section 34.2, Ms Oldbury requested clarification of the meaning of the Section. Mr. Osborn explained that at one time an employee who did not have any family, could not speak and was in the hospital. He was terminated because he was out for two weeks before he could notify the City. The Section was added at that time. Ms. Oldbury suggested that it not be policy, but to use judgment. Article 35, Jury Duty Ms. Oldbury proposed adding that if required to report to jury duty on a day work was scheduled, the employee would not be required to report to work that day. She wished to add language to that effect and have discussion on how the language would be stated if it was an overnight work situation. Article 36, Seniority and Layoffs Ms. Oldbury stated that the probationary employees experience the most issues. By probationary, it was meant as newly hired employees of the City. There are many areas in the contract that refer back to probationary employee and she proposed to change the wording so as not to present any confusion. With regard to Section 36.3 a, b, c, Ms. Oldbury was not sure why (c) was in the contract, referring to the City Manager. She suggested this item be removed. It was suggested also to remove a comma in the sentence. Article 38, Safety and Health There was discussion on the problem with the kind and size of boots being ordered and what was being received. Boot fit was an ongoing problem. Ms. Oldbury advised in discussions with Risk Management, cost had been a factor. The City would not reimburse the employee $115.00 for the boot, but would reimburse their cost for the boot by the chosen vendor. Since 6 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 this was an ongoing situation, Ms. Oldbury advised she would have a discussion with Risk Management to determine what else could be done. Article 39, Tool Replacement Ms. Oldbury advised an interesting diversion was brought up in regards to what the Union was asking for which was the determination of negligence and how that was determined by the Incident Review Board. Mr. Olson stated there was never a way of determining whether it was negligence. They could not request an employee to pay for something that could not be determined whether it was preventative or non - preventative. The APM was redone and Mr. Magazine added to it stating that the Incident Review Board would also determine whether it was negligence or non - negligence. Mr. Osborn presented an example of when a tool was stolen which could not be proven as negligence. Ms. Oldbury advised she had just learned of the shifting of the negligence aspect into the Incident Review Board and had questions. She advised she would like the opportunity to review this Article again. Article 40, Uniforms Ms. Oldbury commented that currently the City branding issue was very important so dressing as uniformly as possible was equally important. She wanted to revisit this issue again once the branding issue was complete. Mr. Roberts left at 5:05 p.m. Article 41, Insurance Ms. Oldbury advised there was direction from the City that on October 1, 2012, they would like employees to contribute a portion of their medical premiums. This could be a flat amount around $15.00 per paycheck. Another option would be splitting some of the amount the insurance would increase. Although there was no increase in the City's premium for this current year, the benefits to employees were reduced with more out -of- pocket costs. There was discussion on the insurance and what other municipalities were covering. The City currently does not pay anything towards dependent coverage, although other municipalities do. Once a meeting takes place, she will meet with the Union again for discussion. There was also discussion on the clinic and how that would affect the cost for employees. Ms. Oldbury advised because of the cost to the City for the clinic set up, it would not happen this year. Article 42, Personnel Files Ms. Oldbury advised an employee can get a copy of their file, one time at no cost. The file can also be downloaded to a disk if the employee supplies it. 7 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Article 43, Tuition Assistance Ms. Oldbury advised that tuition assistance was suspended for this contract year and it was unknown what would happen in the future. Article 44, General Provisions There was discussion on the departmental file and keeping it separate from the personnel file. Departmental files should not exist. It was suggested that it should be stricken from the Article. Article 46, Pension There was no discussion at this time. However, Ms. Oldbury made a disclosure statement that pension reform was a topic that was out there, in general. This was status quo for now. Article 47, Substance Abuse Ms. Oldbury advised the City policy was acceptable, but Human Resources was in the process of revising it. That was for information only. Article 48, Probationary Period Ms. Oldbury wanted to add newly hired probationary employees so that there would be a distinction for that. She had concerns with the six month time frame when applying for another position and would be more inclined to make it more a guideline or a recommendation rather than a hard and fast rule. Although it was not unreasonable to have an expectation of an employee remaining in a position for six months, she would not want someone to feel stuck because of it or hesitate applying for a transfer. Article 49, Longevity Benefit The City would be requesting suspension for this fiscal year. Article 50, Savings Clause Mr. Osborn expressed concern over an area in this article that stated if an employee was driving a City car and received a red Tight camera ticket, that person would be responsible for paying the ticket. The APM states that the owner of the vehicle was responsible for the ticket. In essence, by writing that into the APM, the Article had been violated. City Code also stated the owner was responsible. Mr. Oldbury would review the information. 8 Meeting Minutes SEIU Blue Collar Bargaining Session Boynton Beach, Florida December 13, 2011 Article 52, Posting of Agreement Ms. Oldbury stated that one hard copy would be provided per contract period. Mr. Brennan expressed an issue on page 83, that when attempting to open the PDF file, the pages stopped at 75. Ms. Oldbury would check with the City Clerk as to why the file stops at Article 45. She also advised the City was considering going back to the mini -books as that was a success. Article 54, Duration Ms. Oldbury stated the City was looking at the end of this year for a one year contract. Union stated concern that a couple of months had already passed with negotiations and with more negotiations on the table, the year would pass quickly. Mr. Brennan stated the Union would like a longer contract, with reopeners, and would like to extend it another year. Ms. Oldbury would express that to the City but advised the insurance issue was a concern. If the unions could agree to some of the City's stipulations, they may be comfortable with giving more. There being no further business to discuss, the meeting was closed at 5:50 p.m. Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 9