By Greg Hunt
greg.hunt@ecm-inc.com
New contracts proposed for four labor groups in School District 911 have not been accepted as representatives from both sides have hit an impasse. This is before wages were even discussed as work week control and overtime allotment centered into the argument.
An informational meeting on the proposed contracts was to be held on Nov. 1 between the two sides at the District 911 Education Center.
The custodial, secretarial, food service and paraprofessional employees of the district are represented by Laurie Stammer, contract organizer of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 284 out of Buffalo.
Meanwhile, the district hired labor counsel Joe Flynn of Knutson, Flynn & Deans of St. Paul to reorganize the four contracts for July 2007 - July 2009, with the goal to help better track similar language between those contracts.
Flynn and Stammer got into a confrontation during the first of four one-hour sessions, both accusing each other of not reading each other’s proposals thoroughly. Flynn walked out on the remainder of the sessions.
If the two sides can’t sit back down together, mediation would be the next step to resolve the contract dispute.
Argument over overtime
In July, the SEIU won a grievance arbitration against District 911 for attempted changes to how overtime would be paid on the existing contract resulting in back payment for some custodial workers.
“It had been the practice going back into the 1970s that all hours have been paid. Holiday and vacation days are considered ‘earned days’ contractually, and hours worked past 40 hours are considered overtime,” explained Stammer. “We soundly won that arbitration, but we get the new contracts and the district wants to make the changes all over again. The arbitration cemented the definition of the language.”
In Article VII, Section 3 Overtime, Subd. 1 of the new custodial and maintenance contract proposed by the district, the wording was changed to “Employees will be compensated at the overtime rate of time and one-half for all hours actually worked during the calendar week. Paid time off (i.e. sick/personal leave, vacation, holiday) shall not count towards the 40 hour standard for overtime.”
Subd. 3 of that same section reads, “Overtime shall be assigned first to those employees of the bargaining unit which does not result in premium pay.”
Typically there is not a lot of overtime assigned throughout the year, agreed both sides. But as more use and rental of school buildings for weekend events occur, which require custodial presence, then the potential for overtime comes into play, said Stammer.
“Seniority has always been given priority for overtime opportunity, but the district would rather first give overtime to the cheapest labor,” she added. “There goes our seniority.”
Superintendent Bruce Novak explained the district’s side following the grievance arbitration.
“Overtime is not abused in our district, it is just paid out the wrong way. After the grievance arbitration decision, I asked ‘How do you make changes to a past practice?’ I was told you propose it in a letter to the workers, and you change the next contract. And that’s what we did here,” he said.
The wording “hours actually worked” are at the crux, explained both Flynn and Novak. If a custodian has a week where a holiday and a vacation day were used, comes in to work 28 hours, then he or she would expect four hours overtime, based on the old contract. But only 28 hours were actually worked that week, countered Flynn and Novak.
“I was hired to be a good steward of the district, someone who is accountable to the taxpayer along with our employees,” said Novak. “I’m not opposed to paying out overtime, but it has to be done in the correct manner. That is why we’re trying to change past practices.”
Included in the proposed changes is a new severance pay package for secretarial and food service full-time employees who have completed at least 10 years with the district. The severance pay, which could run for five years into retirement, includes compensation for up to 30 days of unused sick days.
However, the severance pay would not be eligible for employees hired after July 1, 2002.
Hard feelings from the workers
In the past, contract negotiations were held between a local union representative, the superintendent and a school board committee. Having a lawyer, at $178/hour, hired to represent the school district does not sit well with the laborers.
Novak countered that when the support staff hired a union agent, the district responded by hiring Flynn along with his expertise to help streamline the four contracts.
Local members of the SEIU have taken to “wearing the values,” buttons which display District 911’s Character Traits of respect, honesty and self-discipline, to show their solidarity. They said those traits were not displayed by Flynn when he strongly challenged Stammer in front of a group of union members at the Nov. 1 confrontation.
Said custodian Paul Gambino that day, “I was our negotiations representative in 1998, so I came here expecting a dialogue. But he (Flynn) never even looked at our proposal. And to have a lawyer hired who walks out of the meeting, what does that say about respect?”
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