It is understood by the parties that the benefits granted by this Article shall not be interpreted or applied as requiring the employer to count as time worked, any hours or fractions of hours spent outside the employee’s work shift in pursuit of benefits provided by this Article. The employer shall count as time worked any hours or fractions of hours spent within the employee’s regular work shift in pursuit of benefits provided by this Article.
A. Union Stewards
Union stewards have the right to paid release time under the grievance procedure herein subject to the following: The Union may designate 52 stewards including five (5) Chief Stewards and fourteen (14) Lead Stewards to serve as employee representatives. Such designation shall be made from amongst employees regularly working at the job sites as specified in Attachment “A” hereto. The Labor-Management Committee will discuss the job site allocation of the 52 stewards upon request by either party (Attachment A). Employees must have completed the initial City probationary period of one (1) year to be eligible for designation as a steward.
The Union shall notify Labor Relations in writing of its designations and re-designations of stewards.
There shall be no obligation on the City, nor shall the City change or adjust employees’ permanent regular work schedule or assignments solely as a result of such designations.
One such steward and the Grievant may, after the Grievant and the supervisor were unable to resolve the matter informally (Article 2, Section 2-l), when the Union is designated by the Grievant as his representative, attend mutually scheduled grievance meetings with department representatives without loss of pay or benefits for the purpose of gathering information and/or discussing the resolution of grievances.
Stewards with assigned City vehicles who are on duty and actively working, and are scheduled to return to duty at the conclusion of the meeting, may use the City vehicle to attend mutually scheduled grievance and/or labor-management meetings with department representatives.
In those instances where it is impractical for the steward to communicate with the Grievant or witnesses during the non-work hours of the steward and employee(s), supervisor shall, subject to operational needs, approve the use of on-duty time in accordance with the following limitations:
Use of paid time under this subparagraph e. shall be charged against the unit total of 3540 hours provided in C (1) of this article.
Use of such time shall be subject to notification to Labor Relations Division for the purpose of administering the use of said bank of hours.
Use of such time shall be in increments of fifteen (15) m inutes.
B. International and Local 2960 Union Representatives
Accredited A.F.S.C.M.E. International, and designated Local 2960 Chief Steward and Lead Stewards shall be admitted to the buildings and grounds of the City during working hours for assisting in the adjustment of grievances, so long as such will not interfere with any work operation or the safety and security of any work site. Such representatives will check in with the supervisor involved and will be required to conform with the safety regulation of the work site.
C. Release Time for Unit Related Activity
1) Paid Time
a) The unit will be allowed, during each 12 month term of this Memorandum, subject to operational and scheduling factors and three (3) working days advance notice, a unit total of three thousand five hundred forty (3,540) hours paid release time per M.O.U. year to attend Union conferences, workshops, Executive Board meetings, general membership meetings of the local, and new employee orientations conducted by the City’s Human Resources Department.
Use of such time shall be subject to notification to the Labor Relations Division. Use of such time for any single employee, of 800 (eight hundred) hours or more will be subject to notification by July 1, of each year to Labor Relations. This will allow for coordination with the department for release of the employee for the designated hours. Any release hours left over shall be credited or carried over to the next fiscal year bank of hours.
b) The P resident or the designated representative of Local 2960 shall be allowed up to 2,080 work hours per M.O.U. year between July and June, inclusive, to engage in lawful union activities, pursuant to and consistent with this Memorandum. Time used for this purpose in excess of 2,080 hours shall be at the expense of the Union, and the Union shall reimburse the City at the employee’s hourly rate of pay. The City will pay the employee’s full time fringe benefits.
c) The unit will be allowed, subject to operational and scheduling factors and fourteen (14) calendar days advance notice, up to one shift (either 8 or 10 hours depending upon their regular schedule) of paid release time for authorized stewards to attend a one-time contract orientation session conducted by the Union in each year of the contract.
d) The Chief Representative (designated by the Executive Board of the Union) shall be allowed up to two thousand and eighty (2,080) work hours per MOU year to engage in lawful unit activities pursuant to and consistent with this memorandum. The City will pay the employee’s full-time fringe benefits.
e) A third release position designated by the Executive Board of the Union shall be allowed up to two thousand and eighty (2080) work hours per M.O.U. year to engage in lawful unit activities pursuant to and consistent with this memorandum. The City will pay the employee’s full-time fringe benefits.
f) Upon return to regular City duties, a Unit employee listed in subsections b), d), or e) above that was on full-time release shall be reinstated to his/her original position, location and schedule by seniority. In addition, any approved leave time the unit member had scheduled prior to his/her return shall be honored by the department.
g) Effective July 8, 2002, the unit will be allowed one thousand (1000) hours per M.O.U. year to engage in lawful union activities including City partnerships, and schools, conferences, workshops and training. Use of such time for any single employee, of 800 (eight hundred) hours or more will be subject to notification by July 1, of each year to Labor Relations. This will allow for coordination with the department for release of the employee for the designated hours.
h) In recognition of the mutual benefit provided to the City and the Union by the full-time release positions, the City agrees to pay the President of the Union two hundred and eight (208) hours of overtime and each of the other two full-time Union release positions eighty (80) hours of overtime per M.O.U. year. This overtime will be payable in the second pay period of each contract year.
2) Unpaid Time
Unit members may be authorized in advance in writing to engage in lawful unit-related activities during City work hours on a non-paid basis by the City Manager or his designee in his unrestricted discretion according to the applicable Personnel Rules. A member selected by the Union to do unit representation work which takes the employee from his employment with the City shall, at the written request of the Union, and subject to Civil Service rules and the approval of the Personnel Official, be granted an unpaid leave of absence. The leave of absence shall be in increments of no less than three (3) months and shall not exceed one (1) year, but it may be renewed or extended for a similar period upon the request of the Union.
3) There shall be no use of official time for unit related activities except as expressly authorized under the aforesaid sections. The City reserves the right to deny approval of requests for use of official time for activities not expressly authorized under this Memorandum.
D. Payroll Deduction
1) The City shall deduct from the first and second pay warrants of Union members, in each month, the regular periodic Union membership dues and regular periodic Union sponsored insurance premium s pursuant to the City’s deduction authorization form duly completed and signed by the employee and transmit such deductions monthly to the Union no later than the fourteenth (14) day following the end of the pay period in which the deduction occurs, along with an alphabetical list of all employees for whom deductions have been made. Such deduction shall be made only when the Union member’s earning for a pay period are sufficient after other legally required deductions are made.
2) Authorization for membership dues deduction herein under shall remain in effect during the term hereof unless revoked in writing by the employee. Revocation of deductions shall be accepted by the City only during the first week of July or January of each year of the term of this memorandum to be effective the following payroll period. The City will notify the Union of any revocations submitted to it.
3) The City shall not make dues deductions for unit members on behalf of any other employee organization (as defined in the Meet and Confer Ordinance) during the term of this Memorandum.
4) It is agreed that the City assumes no liability except for its gross negligence on account of any actions taken pursuant to this section. The City will, however, as promptly as technically possible, implement changes brought to its attention.
5) The City shall, at the written request of the Union during the term of this agreement, make changes in the amount of dues deduction hereunder for the general membership, provided costs for implementing such changes shall be reimbursed by the Union at actual cost incurred by the City.
E. “Facilities and Services”
The Union may distribute material on the City’s premises (buildings and grounds) before and after scheduled working hours or in non-work areas during scheduled work hours provided that both the person distributing and the employee receiving such material are on their own time.
The City shall provide the Union with bulletin boards for its use in communicating with its members at mutually agreeable locations. The City shall grant sole and exclusive use of such bulletin boards to the Union. The Cit y will provide glass-enclosed, locking bulletin boards (standard to be set by the City) for any new City facility where five or more Unit 3 employees will be assigned. The Union may request that two existing bulletin boards be replaced with glass-enclosed, locking bulletin boards (standard to be set by the City) each contract year, provided at least five Unit 3 employees are assigned to the requested locations. Lost keys will be replaced with the full expense charged to the party that lost them (meaning City or Union). Damaged bulletin boards will be replaced with the cost split equally between the City and the Union.
This benefit is suspended for the contract years 2010-2012. The provision will be reinstated as of July 1, 2012.
Material which is not abusive of any person or organization, which complies with laws regulating the political activities of City employees, and which is not disruptive of the City’s operations, may be posted or distributed, provided that such material is submitted to the City and also signed by an authorized official of the Union. The Union may grieve any refusal by the City to approve posting or distribution of submitted material. The City will not arbitrarily disapprove submitted material.
The Union shall have the right to meet with each new unit member for one (1) hour during the scheduled Human Resources Department’s new employee orientation before or after lunch for the purpose of informing each such new employee of the Union and of that member’s right to have Union dues deducted from his pay warrant.
The City shall provide the Union on a semiannual (February 1 and August 1) basis, at actual cost, with a listing of unit members indicating name, address, job classification, department num ber, position number, and geographic payroll locator code. This listing shall be in a format compatible with the Union’s computer.
The Union agrees to use this list solely for the purpose of communicating with unit members and will not share this information with other individuals or organizations.
Where possible, Unit III becomes a participant in the appropriate electronic distribution lists for promotions, seamless service, City Connections and/or educational opportunities.
F. Effective July 1, 2004, the union shall be allowed fourteen thousand ($14,000), payable to the Union by the City during July of each M.O.U. year, for designated members of the local to attend schools, conferences, workshops and training. These funds shall be used at the discretion of the union.
The Labor Relations Administrator will continue his practice of providing the union information concerning grievance and arbitration cases. The union agrees that they will be reasonable in making these requests for information. Effective July 2004, the Union and Labor Relations will hold a full day training/discussion session each MOU year. This session will not be charged to the Union bank of hours (Department and E-board of Union).
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