MSOP Meet and Confer July 13, 2023

 

 

 MINNESOTA SEX OFFENDER PROGRAM

AFSCME LABOR/MANAGEMENT MEETING

St. Peter – HR Conference Room – Microsoft Teams

July 13, 2023

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

 

Attendees: Ryan Cates, Matt Stenger, Steaed Doehring, Jamie Schwartz, Nick Weerts, Eric Hesse, Erin Wiederich, Eric Manriquez, Leah Plonty, Bonnie Wold, Karen Holicky, Brooke Newfield, Michelle Sexe, Troy Sherwood, Scott Halvorson, Nicole Boder, Breanna Bullert

 

Follow Up Items

  1. Inverse Numbers- Operations 1st watch-217.25 hours/38 staff
  • 2nd Watch- 89 hours/ 21 staff            
  • 3rd Watch – 103 hours/ 25 staff
  • Total FSS- 409.25 hours/ 84 staff
  • Health Services- No inverses for health services
  1. OT numbers- 3522 hours of overtime for operations
  • Health services- 55 hours overtime CPS-2 hours overtime
  1. Vacancy Rates
  • St. Peter Overall: 16.9%
  • Security Counselor: 17.3%
  • Security Counselor Lead: 6.9%
  • Labor requested to get the overall AFSCME vacancy rate and HR will investigate it.  Labor said that HR was able to provide it in the past.
  1. Radio Batteries Update- Management said that the vendor reported that the new batteries shipped July 7. The dates of June 28-August 4 for CPS order for radios to be completed.
  2. Bumping to 1St Watch-Labor asked about when the bumping to 1st watch might stop.  There were 3 permanent reassignments for 1st watch on the July 11th. Reports from the 1st watch supervisory staff say that bumping people to 1st watch should be slowing down.  Labor reminded to let newly hired staff know that it might be bumped during orientation.
  3. Uniform Shortages-Gall said there’s no shortage, just back orders for lots of the pants.  Management is going to check with Blauer to see what the problem is and will work with folks on what they have in stock if staff are waiting on stuff.   There are a few items on the contract that are no longer available. The representative is working with Galls to find substitutes for these items, that include winter gloves.
    1. Pexton Construction and SH2E Update-The Pexton construction is to replace all the showers in the building.  This is a hardship because it takes out one wing on both floors and shutting off the water to one side of the building.  Management’s plan is to consolidate down to 2 units, (conventional programming) in Shantz so that they can shut down one side of the building to work on both floors at the same time.  Labor asked about what the staffing would look like when this plan goes into action. Management is planning to keep the staff with the clients to stay with the continuity of care, but they aren’t sure until they get the okay to follow through with the plan.  Management also doesn’t know the exact timelines but the rough timeframe that was given was October to July 2024. This was the discussion prior to the idea of vacating the units so hoping the time frame will be shorter. Management plans to have a meeting today so labor will follow up next month at meet and confer.

AFSCME Agenda Items

  1. PELRA Changes to Staffing Ratios-Public Employment Labor Relations Act has staffing ratios as a term of employment.  So AFSCME is looking for the current staffing ratios documentation. HR will look to MMB on the exact language, then provide labor with the documentation on what they are currently.
  2. All staff forums- Labor asked if management would be willing to entertain an idea for more open forum where staff can talk and ask questions of management. Management said that there is currently a survey on the homepage to see what people want and welcome the feedback.  Labor asked if there could be more notice given as to when the forums are scheduled to happen.  Management agreed to investigate giving more notice.
  3. Plans for clients in HSA- Labor brought up that the client in and out of HSA is eating up staff resources. Management said they are trying to meet the clients’ needs and that there had been some discussion about the possibility that the client is malingering, so they are just trying to gather data.  They will decide on what we can do in the future with him after they analyze the data but realize it is taxing on everyone.  Labor asked about what kind of timeframe they might be looking at to gather said data. Management said it is dictated by client’s behaviors and it is evaluated daily. 
  4. New Admit-Labor asked about the client that has an increased level of care, what are the staff responsibility vs. helping hands. Response: There have been several care conferences about the client, and it doesn’t seem like the information received matches what the client is telling staff.  They are doing an assessment on what he’s doing daily but are asking that staff treat like him like any other client that needs assistance.  There also is a care plan that it’s a work in progress but will have more directives on what staff need to be helping with.   There has been some malingering going on but and HS will continue to work with the client and the FNH team.
  5. HR update list- Labor asked if HR could post an update HR contact list on homepage, leave management and retirement contacts.

Management

  1. Management asked how advanced notice overtime is going- Staff are talking positively about the advance notice overtime calls.  Management: OD’s have shared, since they started, they are seeing staff accept the 1st call for OT, then the next day get called and rescind the first offer to take a better shift, leaving the OD having to go back and fill the 1st offer. We will continue to watch this, as it creates more work.

Step 3 Grievance- Holiday scheduling