Security Labor / Management

Meeting Minutes

February 28, 2002, 6:15 am

Attending:      Frank Thompson, Ted Long, Mike Malizio, Kim Olerich, Jerry Sandver, Jim Steiner, Scott Campbell, Elizabeth Mancino, Sally Neal, Harvey Smath, and Carl Bramlett

Issue:              Review of previous minutes.

Discussion:    The minutes of the November 16, 2001 and January 25, 2002 meetings were approved. Scott Campbell asked that Security Staffing information be included in the body of the minutes.  Frank agreed that in the future these numbers would be included in the body, and the attachment would also be included in the minutes for a more detailed breakdown of staffing numbers. 

Action:            As above.

Remain on Agenda

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Issue:  Inmate Property Control:  Inmate property on the housing units is becoming excessive. Wooden footlockers are becoming worn and may be becoming a safety hazard. Archive boxes are not being used as intended. The Local Union is proposing wooden footlockers be replaced and archive boxes be removed from the housing units.

Discussion:    Scott said the inmate footlockers are becoming old and broken.  Many are a safety hazard.  Jerry Sandver brought a picture of the replacement footlocker he had crafted, and he also brought a plastic footlocker from the military department that is being proposed as a replacement for the wood footlocker.  Jerry asked that staff review the plastic footlocker to see if it would be a satisfactory replacement.  Scott had questions concerning the standard padlock fitting on this footlocker, and the hinge on the back of the locker being able to withstand regular and constant use.  CO Mancino asked if there were any proposed replacements that would have a built-in lock, so as to remove the “lock in a sock” weapon problem.  Jerry responded not to his knowledge.  

Scott then discussed the problems with the current archive boxes, and the problems with inmates storing materials other than those intended for the boxes.  Archive boxes are to be used to store legal materials only.  Frank stated that the OICs are beginning an inspection program to reduce this abuse, and the process should be completed by June 1, 2002.  Scott questioned this timeframe as the rule is currently in effect that details inmate property, why wait until June?  Carl Bramlett stated he was frustrated over confiscating inmate archive boxes only to have them returned to the inmate.  It was also stated that Intake is not following the rule by reducing excess property.  Ted said he had instructed Intake to do this.  Ted also said he wants to follow the rule and alert our inmates of the only use for archive boxes is for legal material. There was additional discussion about how much property inmates can have.  It was suggested when the department decides what storage space is available for inmates that all property be included in the storage box. It is the expectation of management that inmate property is limited now and that it be within limitations. Scott then asked that management notify inmates that archive boxes are for legal material use only, and a specific approval process for inmate property containers be developed by April 1, 2002.

Action:            Frank Thompson stated he will bring up the local union’s concerns about the plastic footlockers at the next Quarterly IDM, and management will develop a process for approval of inmate property by the next scheduled meeting.

Remove from Agenda.

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Issue:              Security Staffing:  How many security staff (FTE’s) are budgeted at CRCI?  What is the current number of security staff vacancies?  How many temporary hires are employed now as security staff?  How Many security staff are currently on long term leave or otherwise unavailable for work?  How many security staff have yet to attend DPSST?

Discussion:    Report of staffing presented to local union (see enclosure (1)). The Union clarified that CRCI currently has two staff working Out of Classification and do not have temporary hires as backfills. It was also noted by the Union that five new vacancies are occurring as a result of one resignation and promotions to Coffee Creek in the coming days (March 3rd). The concern expressed was a lack of staff causing overtime.

                        Position                      Number                      Vacancies

                        Sergeant                          7                                     0

                        Corporal                           9                                     0

                        GF Officer                       49                                    1

                         GF Work Crew                 4                                     0

                         OF Work Crew                4                                     3

                        Temporary Hire                0

                        Long Term Leave             0

                        Pending DPSST              9

Remain on Agenda

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Issue:   Overtime Assignment Procedure

Discussion:    Scott stated he had received a redraft of this procedure from Brad Heath.  Ted long said he agreed with most of Scott’s proposed changes as they did clean up the language of the procedure.  Scott did have a few areas of concern:

1.   Mandatory Overtime List: A difference in the language between management and union.  “By rank” was the problem.  Frank Thompson stated to remove “By rank” from this definition.

2.   Scheduled Overtime area:  Management had added a paragraph that Scott thought he understood, if that paragraph had been crafted by Nok Smith, Staff Deployment Coordinator.  Frank and Ted reviewed the paragraph and were not sure of the meaning.  Mike Malizio said this paragraph needs to be reviewed and re-written so that anyone reading the procedure will understand the intent. 

3.    Scheduled Overtime area, “Monthly” had been changed to “Current”.  Scott said this was not a good change in terms.  Frank said to use the word “Monthly” and remove “Current”.

4.   Under Mandatory Overtime, a sentence needed to be clarified.  Ted Long suggested, “If there are no volunteers, staff will be assigned to overtime from the mandatory overtime list as follows:”.  This suggestion was accepted.

Action:            Scott Campbell will make the revisions as discussed and forward the document to Mr. Malizio, Mr. Long and Mr. Heath. Ted and Brad Heath will review the intent of the paragraph under #2 above, and get back to Scott.  The remainder of the changes will be incorporated.

Remove from Agenda.

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Issue:  Other Funded Positions:  Because of the funding volatilities of OF positions, and the potentials of having to release someone from employment when the OF sources are not available (and an inability to absorb staff into GF positions), we may need to exempt other fund positions from the weekends and days off bidding process.  Labor needs to be informed of these issues and given an opportunity (per CBA) to provide input.

Discussion:    Frank Thompson said CRCI couldn’t have staff assigned to Other Funded positions if there are no funds to support that crew. Management is not allowed to operate at a deficit.  CRCI will not put out crews without funds. Scott asked if the positions would stay the same between the present and the April shift change.  This was answered by Kim Olerich, who said it would.  During the next bidding process staff would only be bidding on four general fund positions.  This will result in the loss of bidding opportunities for work crew supervisor positions.

Action:            None

Remove from Agenda

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Issue:  Control of Unscheduled Leave:  Superintendents will work through their Labor/Management committees within their institutions to define the indicators that will enable this group to address unscheduled leave, how it might be controlled and what is reasonable in terms of beginning the supervisor/employee dialog on unscheduled leave. 

Discussion:    Jim Steiner asked that the minutes for the last Statewide Labor/Management meeting be brought to this meeting.  Ted Long retrieved copies for all present.  Frank reviewed the document and said that we will add the action item for this issue to our minutes now, and in the future.  CRCI has completed a couple of reports as to what drives overtime.  Mr. Thompson stated he would share these reports with Labor.

Action:            Institutions will report their findings to Kris Kautz on or before April 19, 2002, and the results will be compiled and presented to the Statewide Labor/Management group at their next meeting on May 9, 2002.  Frank and Jim agreed to have further dialogue on this issue after this meeting.

Remain on Agenda.

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Issue:              Monthly Discipline Logs:     The 2001-2003 collective bargaining process modified Article 50 – Discipline and Discharge language.  The Local Union requests a monthly agenda topic in which a Monthly Discipline Log is provided to the Local, but not discussed.

Discussion:    Frank asked if there were any disciplinary letters that the local union not received.  Scott responded yes, but these were in the past.  An example would be if a represented employee wants to keep their discipline private, the union does not get the information.  Scott stated the new CBA does not allow a represented employee to keep this information private.  Scott then said he only wants the number of discipline letters issued, and there is a trust issue on this subject.  Frank stated we will follow the CBA, and he is open to discussion if it is perceived that management is not following the contract.

Action:            Frank Thompson stated he would provide the number of disciplinary letters issued by management for the previous month to the local union at each Labor/Management meeting.

Remove from Agenda.

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Issue:  Staffing Standards Report:  The Agency is nearing completion of this report.  The Local Union requests a copy of this report.

Discussion:    Scott said he had received a copy of this report dealing with the medium and above institutions.

Action:            Scott will be reviewing this report, and we will be discussing the report at a later meeting.

Remain on Agenda

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Issue:              Security Staff Shift Change:  Security staff schedules have been changed so there are not many schedules with weekends off. The Local Union requests the schedules be looked at and as many Saturday / Sunday off, Friday / Saturday off, or Sunday / Monday off work schedules be created as possible

Discussion:    Scott Campbell stated he would like management to have as many work schedules as possible that have Saturday/Sunday off, Friday/Saturday off, or Sunday/Monday off.

Action:            Frank stated management is committed to reviewing security work schedules to find as many of these days-off combinations as possible.

Remove from Agenda

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Issue:              Travel Expense Reimbursement for DPSST:  There has been a change in the method of reimbursing travel expenses.

Discussion:    Frank said that CRCI has not been following the DOC standard on reimbursing staff that attend DPSST.  CRCI can’t pay for travel that is outside of the DOC norm, so CRCI is changing its practice to agree with DOC.  Ted Long stated he had checked with other AFSCME represented units, and they pay for the day 1 trip to DPSST, and the trip back after graduation.  Ted also stated that DPSST provides housing from day 1 through graduation.  Scott then said this policy does not agree with a 1996 grievance settlement completed at CRCI, which raised BOLI issues. The Union also raised additional concerns about utilizing state vehicles.  The Union believes the past agreement to be the most efficient method of dealing with the travel issue.  Frank had not seen this grievance settlement and he will work with Jonathan Herman to get a copy.

Action:            Frank Thompson will check with Jonathan Herman to get a copy of the grievance, and to see if the grievance settlement modifies the current CRCI practice.  He will let Scott know after this is completed if there will be a change to reimbursing travel to DPSST.

Remain on Agenda

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It was decided to have the next meeting on Thursday, March 28, 2002 at 6:15 AM.