Present: Tim Lokensgard, Bonnie Wold, Troy Sherwood, Mike Homer, Chris Hanson, Adam Castle, Molly Kennedy, Jessica Rhodes, Amanda Castle, Cindy Jungers
AFSCME AGENDA ITEMS
1. Scheduling program and the ability to access it from home a. Members are curious as to how this might look going forward and if there is a target date. Tim Lokensgard explained that there are 2 servers outside of a security firewall that the state has. One is test and one is development. In the next week or two there will be two copies put inside the firewall. The 2 outside the firewall will sit there as a backup. When updates are being made, the 2 servers outside the firewall will be used to make the program accessible 24/7. b. When all of this happens we are going to have a new URL. The link on the homepage will be there for when employees are at work. The URL will be given to staff to do what they want with. This can be added to your phone or a favorite on your home computer. This can’t be tested until we move it over. According to the company putting together the program that has all been done. c. The old schedule program will be offline May 1st.
2. Documentation that is currently being referred to in grievances a. Settlement & Releases from, for example, 1990 have been being used as responses to grievances. This most likely came from MMB to support the reason for denying the grievance. AFSCME stated that these are things people do not have access to when reading the contract. A lot of members do things based off of the contract. How we operate day to day falls into work rules or MOU’s; something our members can see that might supersede our contract language. b. Cindy Jungers stated that she did follow up on this from last month’s meeting to see if there could be a central place for this to be accessible. There is not. AFSCME did make a data request of both programs, MSH & MSOP. They did not know what to do with this being it is so broad so AFSCME was asked for the request to be narrowed down. This process will now be taken in steps. AFSCME asked that Step 1 be work rules. Cindy stated that MSOP has not had work rules for a long time so that was quick. Cindy stated that now they are waiting to hear what Step 2 will be. c. There are a lot of things that aren’t outlined in the contract. For example, short notice vacation and the process. That is not memorialized anywhere but it is not grievable. AFSCME stated that they would like to know what applies to us and what doesn’t. Chris Hanson stated that he would like a sundown clause on them making them only valid during the contract. Chris stated that he will be filing a formal request for everything that pertains to SPRTC. We have to figure out statewide later on a case by case basis. He stated that he will talk to Jo Pels at Council 5 about this more on how to state what we are looking for.
3. New security procedures in regard to pat searches and property searches a. There was a posting on the homepage speaking to all pat searches being completed by security staff. AFSCME asked what brought this on. Management stated that some staff who were not SC’s taking clients out on outings either didn’t look closely or didn’t know what should be brought in. Bonnie Wold stated that they are trying to tighten that up. b. Property must also now be searched by a security staff that was not on the outing. Management stated that this is to put a fresh set of eyes on the property. Something may have been missed on the outing. This is to help with some staff not being as versed as security staff. The big thing is having a fresh set of eyes to look at the property coming in. This also helps in a situation where a staff was compromised. c. Molly Kennedy inquired about clients being searched when coming up from the Shantz Basement. Management stated that that is not true.
4. Scheduling changes inside of 14 days a. Page 4 of the contract, Section 1C speaks to Schedule Postings and says that there is a required 14 day notice of a schedule change. Management stated that the situation being spoken about is being taken care of and agreed it is a 14 day notice.
5. Shift differential a. This is on page 50 of the contract. There are a lot of ways to interpret this. Molly Kennedy stated that AFSCME would like a clear direction on how shift differential should be handled. Supervisors have different understandings. If your regular scheduled shift is 2nd watch and you work overtime on 3rd watch, you do not get shift differential for either shift. Molly pointed out that the contract says “assigned” not “scheduled” and that employees are assigned overtime. The HR interpretation is that if you are 2nd watch, you are not eligible for shift differential. b. Chris Hanson stated that that is not how it is interpreted with MNDOT. There it is shift differential if you work after 7pm, regardless of your scheduled shift. Molly Kennedy asked that those scheduled 2nd watch who do pick up overtime on different watches get shift dif for the shift that qualifies (1st and 3rd watch). Cindy Jungers stated that she would bring this back to the DHS leadership group. The way the contract is worded now contradicts itself.
6. Spring Conference April 29th
7. International Convention July 17-23 a. Molly Kennedy gave the dates for agenda items #6 & 7 as an awareness and asking for assistance on possibly getting people off of work who are not approved.
MANAGEMENT AGENDA ITEMS
1. Temporary Assignments/Union Agreement a. We do not have any Temporary Assignments, just Work Out of Classes. There are currently 10. 2 of those are going through the interview process (an OAS and Maintenance position) for permanent positions. Mike Lanin’s WOC will also be ending in May.
2. Clients moving from Moose Lake a. 20 clients will be moving to St. Peter from Moose Lake. 10 will be coming April 26th and 27th. The other 10 will be coming May 10th and 11th.
3. Attorney General’s Office a. The Attorney General’s Office will be visiting Tuesday, April 19th for a tour. b. Bonnie Wold stated that the news conference last week went very well and that it was very structured. Tim Headlee was part of this presentation and did an excellent job.