Attendees : Andrew Jones, Matt Stenger, Molly Kennedy, Kevin Graves, Jeremy Tubbs, Scott Grefe, Jason Montgomery, Jennifer Montgomery, Chuck Carlson, John Knobbe, Jason Anderson, Jen Collelo, Bonnie Wold, Cindy Jungers, Gary Grimm, Liz Barbo, Ann Zimmerman
Management Agenda Items:
1. Uniform Invoices Management still isn’t receiving uniform invoices as timely as they would like, which is making it difficult to pay bills on time. Labor requested putting up a central drop box would be more helpful in this matter. Liz will follow up.
2. Short Notice Vacation / Shift in Progress Early Outs The SNV process is handled in Moose Lake differently than St. Peter. Management is looking at streamlining this process, and would like suggestions to a new equal opportunity system. Labor proposed the idea of having a sign-up sheet at the roll call meeting for all employees interested in SNV for that shift. A random draw would then be facilitated after the meeting with the OD and those employees present to determine what order SNV would be issued. This would benefit the employees, as they would immediately know their number on the SNV list. Management would benefit by not having to deal with the flood of SNV calls and emails every shift. If anybody has any other good suggestions feel free to express them.
Labor Agenda Items:
1. Transport team to Carry Chemical Irritant Labor would like the carrying of chemical irritant as an option on some transports. New transport procedures would need to be drawn up for this to be implemented. Chemical irritant would not be carried on all transports, but transports deemed necessary. Transport staff would be educated on when it is necessary to deploy. Management will follow up.
2. Granting Vacation Time on Temporary Reassignments Employees currently on temporary reassignments are required to request for vacation on the watch they are temporarily reassigned to. Any vacation requests the employee may have outside of the 5 month reassignment period must be requested on the employee’s bid watch. Question is to if an employee’s reassignment is extended, will the vacation that is already approved on the other watch still be granted? Cindy – we would grant any vacation previously approved if employee’s temporary reassignment is extended.
3. A-Team Tactical Gloves for ICS response The fitting of gloves for all A-Team bid staff is occurring, and they will be ordered.
4. Meal Reimbursement Discussion Management stated meal reimbursement is not to be paid via employee business reimbursement expenses unless employees are in travel status, which is defined as 35 miles or more from an employee’s home or work location. The union argued the Contract reads employee gets reimbursed up to $14 after 7pm. There is no mention of 35 miles on the dinner reimbursement. This can be referenced on page 78 Article 20 Section 5. The union’s position is that currently employees are not being properly reimbursed.
5. Mid-Shift Breaks Often employees are being offered breaks well past mid-shift. This seems to primary be happening in St. Peter on 3rd watch, because of community outings. Contract language indicates employee should receive break at or around mid-shift. Labor wants to know what is considered mid-shift. Labor asks that if trip comes back after 8, the employee has the option to take ½ hour duty free, or get ½ hour overtime. Management stated they will further review the times breaks are being given and try to find out if there is anything specifically that can be done to assist in facilitating breaks for CPS staff. Employees will not be given the option of whether or not to take a break after 8 p.m. If getting employees their duty-free ½ hour seems to be a problem the local is willing to discuss going back to 8 hour shifts?
6. Human Service Technicians in Moose lake Labor has concerns with Human Service Technicians working within the secure perimeter at Moose Lake. Currently there is several HST’s working with clients within the secure perimeter, doing the same job duties as security counselors. The HST’s should be reclassified to security counselors, as this was just done in St. Peter for the HST’s on the Community Reintegration Program. Cindy explained she does not believe that HSTs are not doing the same work as Security Counselors at the MSOP but agreed to do some follow-up research.
7. A-Team training standards for Bid Staff vs. Cross-Trained Staff Bid staff must complete a physical test, where cross-trained staff is not being required. Many A-Team staff has expressed their concern with the consistency of how training is being conducted. Being on the A-Team requires the ability to be physically prepared for any situation that may arise, and not all staff is being trained equally. Many feel this is a major security issue. Ann and Bonnie agreed with the union that they would like to see all cross-trained staff pass the A-Team physical test as well. They agreed to bring this to the MSOP Executive Team for follow up.
8. Scheduling of intermittent employees There were employees hired as intermittent for the EDMS project in Moose Lake. They have been given a schedule with full-time hours. This is a breach of the contract as it does not allow intermittent staff to be scheduled in advance. They are being treated like temporary employees. Cindy will follow up.
9. Electronic job postings Currently all job postings are being posted on the share point site. This is not contractually, and each job posting should be forwarded to every employee. Can the postings be globally emailed to each employee? Each employee has the ability to set up a forward from the share point every time a job posting is posted, but many are not aware of this. Cindy – maybe educating all employees on how to set this up would help. She further explained that it had been agreed previously that these electronic postings would be placed on the MSOP home page but did agree to review the contract language and discuss with Melissa Gresczyk, MSOP HR Director.
Next meeting is scheduled for May 17th, 2012 @ 10:00am