Present: Bonnie Wold, Troy Sherwood, Tim Lokensgard, Liz Barbo, Cindy Jungers, Kevin Moser, Terry Kneisel, Zack Sowieja, Jason Anderson, Jennifer Montgomery, Amanda Mathiowetz, Matt Stenger, Molly Kennedy, Tim Headlee, Eric Hesse, Mike Homer, Jessica Langhorst, Rob Rose
AFSCME AGENDA ITEMS
1. Lobby Week May 9-13th – Requesting additional days off for those wanting to attend a. St. Peter’s lobby week begins March 21st and those wanting to attend were able to. b. Management asked that Moose Lake get names to them of those wanting to attend their lobby week. ML AFSCME stated that it is a short list right now. Management stated that they will need to project the overtime cost.
2. Opening up extra vacation slots for summer a. This is a Moose Lake standing request. Management stated that they will take a look at it and see what they can do.
3. Clarification of shift differential for regular time and OT a. Some supervisors are approving shift differential and some are not. Management clarified that shift differential should be paid when the starting shift is 1st or 3rd watch. There is a class act grievance on this. There is also a lawsuit in St. Peter about how shift differential overtime was not being paid. That is why there is now a Y65 timebook code.
4. New position interview process and requirements for interview and what is looked for on a resume when lists are pulled for managers. a. Moose Lake AFSCME stated that there are staff applying for promotions but being told they are not qualified. For example, a GMW who was formerly a Security Counselor applied for a Security Counselor position but is now being told they are not qualified. These promotions are being hired outside the facility. There are candidates on lists who are have zero qualifications. b. Management stated that when they have a posting resumes are screened for minimum qualifications. If someone applies and is not asked to interview and they feel they are qualified, that can be appealed. c. As far as follow up with staff, if they are told they are not qualified sometimes this is an oversight. Management stated that they cannot anticipate who will be on the qualified list so the responsibility should be with the candidate. The applicant needs to question this.
5. Flextime for unit 6 staff possibility and if this is happening at MSOP a. Moose Lake AFSCME is wondering if Special Services can use flex time. They stated that they think some staff already do it. People use flex time in a lot of different ways and we need to know how it should be asked for. Is there an agreement? Management stated that they are not aware there is. AFSCME pointed out that our clerical department uses flex. Per the contract on page 5 we need an agreement between the appointing authority and labor. Management stated that we would need quite the conversation about this. AFSCME said that this would be helpful for example, if HIMS is aware a client is coming late on a Saturday and the staff in that department are able to be there by using flex time. Management stated that they would like to revisit this next month.
6. OT cheat sheet for OD’s a. There was one put together and reviewed by the OD’s 3 weeks ago.
7. Key sets put in same order a. St. Peter is waiting for the Security Counselor Lead to train on this. He will identify the differences.
8. Media call structure and lawyer calls a. This has been talked about 3 times previously. There has since been an instance where Control Center received 2 separate media calls in one shift. It was found out later that one of these calls should have been transferred to a unit but the staff were unaware. Bonnie Wold stated that with the instance the media person was given the unit number to call but they mistakenly called Control. b. AFSCME stated that they would like a clear policy on how to handle media calls. Management stated that there was a script emailed out to the OD’s and supervisors who should have shared with their employees.
9. Channel 3 traffic a. AFSCME St. Peter thanked management for the follow through with Channel 3 traffic. It has improved a lot.
10. List of open SC/SCL positions in Moose Lake and St. Peter a. Moose Lake has 21 vacancies. b. St. Peter has 18 vacancies with 2 dead SCL’s and 9 SC’s. AFSCME mentioned that a S2E 3rd watch position was not dead but went to a new hire. This information has been sent to John Haller. Management stated that it would have had to go through the 1768 process before going to someone on the street so maybe no one bid on the spot.
11. Injuries, slipping on grounds a. At the Safety Meeting it was recommended to put skid strips on the steps outside where employees are falling the most. Last year there were 4 slips/falls. b. Moose Lake management stated that at their Safety Meeting staff did an excellent job addressing specific issues. Moose Lake had 7 slips/falls. c. Would like to work with the Maintenance Dept. to prioritize the issues brought forward. d. Ice is a preventable issue. Salt is used as needed. If you notice that it is slippery let the OD know.
12. Day on the Hill, Tuesday April 5 a. St. Peter is waiting on the list of names. The deadline is March 24th. b. Moose Lake will give their list of names to management.
13. Spring Conference Friday, April 29 14. International Convention, July 17-23 15. Temporary Reassignments a. Reminder that the union needs to be notified when a temporary reassignment or work out of class is extended. A temporary reassignment is a max of 5 months.
16. Green Acres Breakroom a. There is no space with the new remodel for a staff breakroom. Liz Barbo stated that they cannot go back on the architectural design. b. A breakroom will be included for the remainder of the GA/Sunrise building. Management stated that the Vocational staff there use an enclosed room in the North Wing.
17. MOU for 24 in 48 a. MSH is drafting an MOU changing this rule to 26 in 48 rather than 24. AFSCME asked if MSOP could be part of this. Bonnie Wold asked that a copy be given to her to review. Cindy Jungers stated that she would fill in management on this.
18. Agreements used from 8+ years ago a. Recently grievances have been received where the management response is citing various agreements made many years ago, for example 1986. These agreements are nowhere in the contract. AFSCME does have a data request in on this presently. We do not have access to this information that is being used. AFSCME stated that from what they see agreements are exempt after 7 years. Settle/Releases have a different interpretation. Cindy Jungers stated that she would talk to MMB and see what they advise us to do. AFSCME stated that if this information will be used it needs to be accessible to members. Cindy stated that she will also bring back the accessibility aspect. b. AFSCME stated that this is a double standard. Matt Stenger gave the example of our local trying to use mutualing to doubles, which was already in our contract, but management would not approve it. Management stated that they weren’t saying we couldn’t. The issue was the ½ hour break.
19. MSOP Meet & Confer a. Molly Kennedy asked that St. Peter’s local and Moose Lake’s get to pre-meet for an hour instead of a ½ hour when there are joint site meetings. Management stated that that should be ok. b. The Chief Steward of MSOP has requested to receive an early shift on MSOP Meet & Confer days. AFSCME stated that the contract speaks to this. Management stated that this is not something that can be fixed at this table. It is beyond this group. AFSCME pointed out that this is done with other programs on campus all of the time. It is mandatory for the program’s Chief Steward to attend these meetings. Cindy Jungers stated that she will share that this did come up. The reason it is not happening is because this is a DCT issue and would then require the same accommodation at a lot of other sites. c. AFSCME stated that if the said accommodation cannot be made they will recommend switching the MSOP Meet & Confer to the day of General Membership making it a joint meeting with MSH until leadership decides. This will be discussed further next week.
MANAGEMENT AGENDA ITEMS
1. Safety Council Award a. This is the 4th year in a row that St. Peter has received this award. This is the 2nd year for Moose Lake. Bonnie Wold stated that this is a reflection of the people who do the work and that they appreciate the effort. This is a huge honor. Management stated that they think that staff training plays a large part. Staff are effective verbally de-escalating conflicts.
2. Recruitment Efforts a. The Moose Lake Scheduler is scheduled to be in Virginia and Clouquet, MN to recruit. The iron range is commutable and there is a lot of unemployment. Normally a Security Counselor will go with to explain their experience. b. There are also links to college websites. The St. Peter Scheduler did go to South Central College last year.
3. Scheduling program update a. Moose Lake – 1st schedule was posted yesterday. There is a printed schedule in the breakroom. b. John Haller has done a lot of work at St. Peter to make sure everyone is trained. We are up to over 90 staff trained. There are roughly 25-30 more. OD’s use this program fully. Mutuals and vacation requests are coming in. Feedback is welcomed. There are still some glitches with contract language that are being worked on.
4. Community living project a. Both sites are working on improving the community of the clients. Management stated they would like to implement a community console where clients will help each other use conflict resolution management skills. Would like for clients to resolve issues amongst themselves. This would be the same structure as a unit representative. b. There will be training for all staff and clients. There will be a document that will need to be signed. Train the Trainer will be March 31st. c. BER’s will be adjusted with how they are issued and what they are called. There will be more consequences and tools to be creative with restrictions. It will be centered on the client’s behaviors, not phase.
5. Staffing a. Security Counselor PD’s are being worked on. The goal is to complete and present by April 1st. There are no drastic changes.