Present: Molly Kennedy, Eric Hesse, Tim Headlee, Matt Stenger, Amanda Castle, Bonnie Wold, Cindy Jungers, Jessica Rhodes, Troy Sherwood, Tim Lokensgard, Chris Hanson
AFSCME AGENDA ITEMS
1. Scheduling Program – glitches and updates
a. AFSCME has heard a lot from members in regards to the overtime sign up. There have been a few glitches reported. Some people have reported being passed up and the OT going to an employee with less seniority. Some things seem to be disappearing and reappearing. Management stated that they do know about the grievances submitted for overtime and that is when they learned about this glitch. At that point Tim Lokensgard stated he told JR Haller to figure out what is going on. JR learned that there was one thing we did not let the vendor know about the overtime sign up. We didn’t let them know that if an employee working 2nd watch signs up for advanced overtime on a certain day, signs up for 3rd and 1st watch OT, then decides that he or she no longer wants to be on the list for 3rd watch, the program has been erasing the sign up for 1st watch as well. That has now been fixed to go by watch, not the whole day. b. Molly Kennedy stated that there are some things going on with vacation as well. Management stated that they think part of that is the testing phase. There was a certain amount of testing going on and it was hard to keep track of all the vacations. Some of that may appear for the next 5-6 months. They are working through them. c. Tim Headlee asked if management had contracted technical support for the scheduling program. Management stated that we do have maintenance support with them. Fine tuning will be ongoing. d. Molly Kennedy asked when the program will be live from home. Tim Lokensgard stated that there was a meeting about it yesterday and they are working through some issues. Tim stated that he has elevated the issue to the company.
2. Pay Status for Labor Management Meetings
a. Because Eric Hesse works 3rd watch and the monthly Meet & Confer meeting is scheduled during 2nd watch hours AFSCME requested that on these days Eric be scheduled 2nd watch so he can attend on paid status. Matt Stenger stated that he checked with MMB and there is no violation in doing this. Matt stated that management is simply not willing to arrange his schedule. Matt stated that either management makes the agreement or we can change the time of the meeting. Matt stated that the reason the meetings are at their current time is to accommodate management. He said that the meeting could be moved to the same time at MSH’s monthly meeting on the 3rd Thursday of the month. This way Eric would be scheduled 2nd watch so he can attend General Membership which is in the contract. It is very important for Eric to attend Meet & Confer because he will be taking the role of Vice President Steward Coordinator beginning next month. b. At the end of these meetings step 3 grievances are presented. The contract speaks to whoever is presenting needs to be in attendance. Cindy Jungers stated that she had thought it just spoke to the employee filing the grievance. c. Management stated that no one at this table has the ability to state that they will change Eric’s schedule once a month. Eric Hesse stated that the schedule is out a year in advance and asked what this would be holding up. Management stated that it depends on staffing for the day and asked if we can come up with some options. They stated that they are not opposed to changing the meeting time. There will be further discussion on this. d. Molly Kennedy stated that she will be stepping down from the role as 404’s Vice President Chief Steward beginning June 16th. The General Membership meeting is that day and there the Executive Board will appoint Eric Hesse.
3. Inversing people within the 24/48 to cover shopping trips
a. Recently a member stated that they were inversed one night and then threatened with another inverse the next day. The 2nd inverse did not happen but the employee was told that there were two Walmart trips planned that day and that they would more than likely be inversed for that. The employee was later told that they made it work without inversing. Molly Kennedy stated that this goes back to the definition of emergency and that a shopping trip is not a good reason to go outside of the contract to inverse. Molly will be emailing Tim Lokensgard the details of this situation.
4. Vacation spots opening up 1 or 2 days before the posted schedule for the WOOC positions
a. There are quite a few people in work out of class positions. Molly Kennedy stated that we understand there is an uncertainty with when they will come back but a day in advance is cutting it short. AFSCME stated that they are asking for more notice when those people are taken off of the vacation calendar. Tim Lokensgard stated that he will talk with JR Haller about doing this 2 weeks in advance.
5. Injury packet brought to our attention by Moose Lake 1092
a. Jessica Langhorst, a Security Counselor from Moose Lake, presented an injury packet to management there. The packet includes a staff assault checklist. Bonnie Wold stated that Kevin Moser had contacted her about this for thoughts on it. Bonnie stated that she thinks it is a great idea. She reached out to Scott Melby and Carol Olsen from MSH about this as well. Management’s thoughts were that this could be a DCT wide policy. The packet was also brought to the Safety Committee meeting. Management will be in touch with a drafting chair.
6. Pilot project for CPS movement
a. This pilot project has gone through a few different changes. The area that speaks to clients walking has been brought up the most by clients and staff. Both are stating that it is nice out and they would like to walk. Staff have pointed out that it would fit into the area of the matrix that speaks to a healthy lifestyle. AFSCME stated that we know we are trying to alleviate movement but this could be done in a group. Michelle Sexe was unable to attend this meeting and was not sure what the agenda item was speaking to with CPS movement so Molly will be speaking to her and Pat Quigley about this further. Bonnie Wold stated that she knows those working on the pilot project were going to reach out to staff and clients for input. b. A member has reached out to Molly Kennedy about a situation in which they reached out to a clinician about walking clients over instead of driving every time. This employee was talked to by her supervisor for not going through the proper chain of command. Molly stated that this is disheartening because if an employee does have a concern they should be able to bring it to the team. Bonnie Wold asked that Molly give her more details on this situation.
7. Feeling comfortable correcting a contract violation (in a respectful way) with OD’s before it happens
a. If an employee knows in the moment that they are more senior and should be getting overtime before someone else they should feel comfortable notifying the OD of this. There is a fear amongst people that they can’t do this because they do not want to overstep their bounds or fear retaliation. Molly Kennedy stated that they are not saying the OD’s aren’t approachable. For members that see a contract violation happening they can respectfully point that out to the OD. Management stated that they would expect the employee to say something rather than pay out a grievance. It is an approachable thing. b. Tim Headlee asked if a list of those working overtime is posted anywhere. Management stated that members hear who is working overtime at role call. The OD’s also have a copy of the roster. Management stated that employees can go to the OD to look at their roster sheet. We will try that for now.
8. ICS in Visit Room
a. Quite a few members have brought forward the concern over having an ICS in the Visit Room due to a recent situation. Molly Kennedy stated that recently a staff was sitting a visit and the client, who tends to be unpredictable, kept staring into Control Center and ignoring his mother who was visiting. The staff tried to redirect the client multiple times. The staff was at the point of not knowing what else to do so an ICS was called. The member reported that they got talked to by management and told that the ICS should not have been called because it is bad PR. Molly stated that there was a visit a few days later with the same scenario. The staff did not call an ICS because they did not want to get talked to by their supervisor. There is a problem with this. We are trained to call an ICS in an uncomfortable situation. We use the ICS system to remedy the situation. Bonnie Wold stated that this was a situation that was brought to her by the visitor who was there on Mother’s Day. The employee was not talked to as a coaching. It was a debriefing. Other ways to manage the situation were talked about because it could have gone badly. How we could manage it differently so we do not put everyone’s safety at risk in the room was debriefed. Bonnie stated that maybe you do have to call an ICS depending on the situation. It is not that you can’t call an ICS in the Visit Room. Hopefully staff that are in there can sense that it is going bad and can handle it before the point of ICS or worse, OC being deployed. She stated that she hoped the words bad PR were not used because it was not the intent. Bonnie stated that they do debriefings on many different things that occur. It is not an abnormal practice. AFSCME stated that maybe this should be addressed with all Visit Posts.
9. Notification to AFSCME
a. A member was disciplined on May 24th but AFSCME did not receive notification until June 8th. There was a laudermill that AFSCME did not know about. Molly Kennedy asked that in a situation like this AFSCME needs to be notified and would like that it be Eric Hesse and Tim Headlee. Members feel that the union should reach out in a laudermill situation. Management stated that the late notice was not intentional. b. Molly Kennedy stated that recently a member received their report from the EEOC directly stating the situation was substantiated. Molly asked if this was normal. Cindy Jungers stated that the EEOC does this all of the time, at least within the past couple years. Molly stated that she would think it would go to the employer since it only states if the situation was substantiated or not. This member is now in an uncomfortable situation since they have yet to hear from management on their conclusion. Cindy stated that they try to make sure they have all of the information. They usually ask for a couple of days before the report is sent to the employee so the timing is better coordinated. It sounds like that did not happen in this case. It was a month. Cindy stated that they will back track their steps and will have another conversation with EEOC about the importance of timing.
10. Communication Log Training
a. There were a series of trainings this week on the new Communication Log. There was a big push to get everyone in and it left units incredibly short. There was 1 staff on a unit for up to 4 hours. Monday during count there were 5 units with 1 staff. There were many cross trained employees covering Control Center creating situations where there was the potential for a lot of things to go wrong. AFSCME asked why not spread the timeline out. Management stated that it was aggressive and that they did have a timeline. It was a licensing requirement that needed to roll out by July 1st. It is a good thing for us to take a look at. Trainings like this will be going on for the next 6 weeks. It does speak to how difficult it is to get people trained. Trainings are aimed to be done in a diverse manner with a mixture of SC’s, clinicians, etc. to get us communicating. Troy Sherwood stated that they will take a look at it.
MANAGEMENT AGENDA ITEMS
1. Meal Coverage
a. The Lead group did meet and discuss meal coverage. The consensus was that the group felt the way we currently cover meals is going well. Eric Hesse stated that he did not think there was a fair representation there. Troy Sherwood stated that 90% of the SCL’s that attend this meeting were present. Troy stated that if Eric feels the process is not working he should contact Heather Pasbrig. She is the supervisor who is now in charge of meal coverage. Eric stated that the majority of 3rd watch does not agree with the current process. Matt Stenger stated that our stance as a union is that it is not ok to short the units.
THIRD STEP GRIEVANCE PRESENTATION (1)