Present: Katie Gleason, Jenn Frew, Eric Hesse, Ryan Cates, Molly Kenndy, Tim Headlee, Mike Homer, Matt Stenger, Amanda Mathiowetz, Tom Christensen, Cindy Jungers, Lisa Vanderveen, Colleen Ryan, Scott Melby, Michelle Chalin
Follow up Items: 1. Seniority Roster for OT –Posted a. The seniority roster has been posted. If any members believe there is an error they have 30 days from the date it is posted to get in touch with Misty Coleman. The most recent roster was posted the end of November.
2. Kitchen a. Shift in Progress was brought up last month that on the days there are extras, shift in progress be granted. Management stated that we are not at the compliment to allow that right now. One cook started yesterday but there are three people going out for medical procedures. Management has posted a need for temporary help. There will be training for cooks so they can cover all stations. Also, there will possibly one work out of class to help. Shift in Progress will be revisited after we are at full compliment. This is still on the radar but we are just not there yet. b. Holiday Sign up: The scheduler should be notified when an employee would like to have the holiday off. The scheduler then enters that as a note in Schedule Anywhere then at 28 days prior it gets evaluated by seniority. c. Memo about available Vacation Days: There were a lot of requests. The Kitchen is now back to a full complement of granted vacations. AFSCME asked if there is a certain time the Scheduling Department grants vacation. Tom Christensen stated that it is when they find time. The Scheduling Department is very busy averaging 3000 emails per month.
Management: 1. Incident Review a. This was talked about at the Safety Committee Meeting. This is not about a specific incident. Scott Melby stated that we have gone a long way putting additional equipment in place and now we are working with staff to make sure good Incident Reports are written. Scott said that he is giving supervisors feedback to talk to staff for a quality report. Management is reviewing Incident Reports and videos to see if there are things we can learn from. This is a safety stand point and is in the spirit of improvement to give people feedback. If there is an incident that management feels they can share with others as a learning experience, that staff will be asked if it is ok to share their experience. Scott said that he has talked to Tim Headlee and other stewards about this. MSH is in a spot where staff can start looking at that and learning from each other. If people are getting asked to meet with their supervisor about an incident it is in the spirit of improving safety. b. There is a new incident report but Scott stated that he is not the best equipped to talk about the new process. The Incident Report system is going electronic and with that there will be additional checks so we can sort out incidents in a different way. Reports can be pulled with more detail. This will be piloted next week possibly the 21st. Everything right now lands on the I Drive and that has met its capacity so we are moving into a cloud situation. c. Supplemental Incident Reports would be increasing the expectation when there is an assault of any kind, patient to patient, patient to staff. Many employees are not accustomed to having these complete before the end of the shift but that will now be an expectation. If you have to stay after your shift to complete the report, overtime will be paid. It is a lot of work to try to track staff down who have not completed their report. The OD’s have been instructed that the reports have to be finished before that staff leaves. If OSI needs to be involved they will reach out to the staff. Management stated that memory is the freshest right after the incident. This has been in place for about a week and a half. The last incident in Bartlett took a week and a half to get everyone’s reports so OSI couldn’t get their work done. This should help with that.
2. BMS Update a. There are small groups that continue to meet. There is a group on communication, a group on staffing, another on person centered, and others. The large group is meeting December 31st with the expectation that some groups come forward with proposals that can be forwarded to the legislative session. This large group will include Lauren Gilchrist, Nancy Johnson, and the new Commissioner. Management stated that at times these meetings can be stressful but think that that is good. There are a lot of questions being asked. There was a design team meeting that had members from all of the bargaining units. They talked about the process impacting groups with the idea that we had time but then were told that they would have the opportunity to come up with proposals by the end of the year. This is a short time line so conversations have been shortened. There will still be work to do in the staffing group after the proposal. They are working on a schedule for next year into March. The 5th small group, Organizational Wellness, is starting in January. Members have been identified for that. The 1st meeting has not been scheduled yet. It is being decided who should co-facilitate with Tudy Fowler.
3. Lead Leveling Update a. Zac Sowieja is helping Human Resources in St. Peter with this. They do have everyone ranked and began offering out. There has been 1 in MSOP accepted and 4 within MSH. They are looking at adding one in CRP to the list because the need for that lead was just discovered. If you have any questions about where you fall on the list contact Molly Kennedy, Tim Headlee, Zac Sowieja, Katie Gleason, or Jenn Frew.
4. 2016 Meet & Confer Schedule (12:30 P.M-2:30 P.M. 3rd Thursday of the month) a. 1/21, 2/18, 3/17, 4/21, 5/19, 6/16, 7/21, 8/18, 9/15, 10/20, 11/17, 12/15. Agreed to keep meetings 12:30pm – 2:30pm.
AFSCME: 1. Vacation Audits a. Scott Melby emailed Tim Headlee and James Hemshrot about discussing this. Would like to discuss how this can be useful for everyone and layout parameters. Everyone agrees that employees shouldn’t ask for more vacation than they can earn and that this hurts everyone. Comp time on the books will be counted. There is an issue with days off when people bid between units or people saying they can earn holidays. Scott stated that if he had to make a decision today he would include vacation on the books and what can be earned, along with comp time on the books. Scott stated that he thinks that would be something not everyone would be supportive on as far as the labor side. There will be a small group getting together soon but no date has been set. TC stated that there are some members that have a lot of hours on the books and are 6 months away from being at the 275 mark. Would like them to be able to get what they want as far as vacation days. The audit will help with that. Management stated that they know there are repeat offenders. Audits do overwhelm the Scheduling Office. When rescind requests come in it takes away from the scheduling office’s other duties and ability to respond to requests. b. New Master vacation language was discussed. There is master language stating that an employee can request 14 days of vacation 1 year out. All 14 days must be within the year and shall be posted per contractual guidelines. If the employee wants to rescind; all 14 days must be rescinded. If someone more senior also asks off for 14 days and any additional time, they will be approved for the time. This is a pilot program that will end at the end of the contract. c. NOCS shift is requesting a paper posting for extended vacation requests. Management stated that they are not interested in doing this. If there are any questions on vacation there is a CBT. Tim Headlee stated that he would send the link to anyone who would like a refresher.
2. Transition Program a. AFSCME said that they have received a few emails about being short staffed and that light duty staff are being utilized as coverage. AFSCME stated that they would like management to be aware of these concerns. Management stated that they have some LPN and RN moving to the point of dead bid. There is a night LPN that started yesterday. There is a night HSSS and a day HSSS that just started orientation.
3. OSHA Incident Review a. It seems to be going well. We are going over the Abatement Plan step by step and interviewing staff. Management said that they are hearing good things, getting some concerns, but overall better than expected. OSHA is coming back the 22nd to do a few more interviews and will then meet with labor. OSHA is coming back to look at those citations to see if there’s been movement.
4. Day on the Hill (4/05/2016) a. AFSCME said that they will formulate a list ASAP of members wanting to go. TC said that he will put it on Schedule Anywhere today.
5. MSH Electric Van Starters a. Members are wondering if there can be a 2nd set of keys to let the van defrost before a trip or electric starters. MSOP has a few electric starters but they came standard with the new vehicle. Managing a 2nd set of keys through Master Control is a concern. Also, it is a security issue when a van is running with a set of keys in it. Management asked if there are certain vehicles that could park in the motor garage while they are working on this. Carol said that she will get word out to Jeff that as we replace there be electric starts.
6. FNH Contract Workers/Company a. AFSCME stated that they understand there are a lot of reasons behind contract workers. We are using outside contractors and shouldn’t be. There is a separate budget so that’s why it is being done. AFSCME said that it looks like a temporary fix that has become too common. Some staff feel they are signing up for OT but not getting it. AFSCME stated that they hope management is being mindful that it is being offered first and at the point of inverse before a contract worker is called. Management stated that they ensure there is no infraction and that they have been used appropriately. Carol Olson stated that it may be useful to put something together monthly showing how many hours were used. Management said that they understand the concerns. They are in the position of hearing staff say they are burned out from being inversed so they are trying to balance it out.
7. CRP SC/LPN inversing a. If there are any questions about inversing the information is on the iNet. Also, the information is available for the RN OD on their sheet. The info did get re-sent out to the group after a meeting. Inversing for LPN’s was a tunicate for short staffing and was supposed to be there for help temporarily.
8. Term 9 Update a. Quite a bit of feedback after two large group meetings. Everyone met 3 times in a small group this week and got through all of the comments and suggestions and took all of them into consideration. They have until Monday to add in or do the changes that were recommended. Some were not accepted. There will be a small group to go through all of it one more time and then send it to the large group again. There may be a large reaction and if so, the large group would need to be pulled together again. If not it goes into licensing hands again and then goes to legal to make sure the language is correct. The grievance process is getting more attention building into the variance.
9. Full Time Employee moving to Utility Pool a. A Bartlett unit was short and now that they have finally gotten all positions filled AFSCME is hearing the staff are unhappy because they are having to cover. Management stated that this is the first they have heard of it. They stated that they are trying to get all positions filled to finally make some headway. Scott Melby said that there will be days where a unit will have extras and that it will happen when we have to help each other out. AFSCME stated that the unit is requesting a decrease in compliment. This unit is supposed to get another staff but they don’t feel this is necessary because they are covering every day. Scott said that they want a certain number of staff in the Bartlett Building but will take a look at it.
10. Seniority for New Employees a. Human Resources stated that the issue is waiting for CARE and CBHH because they are all part of the lot draw. Everyone that starts in Forensics is the same day as CARE/CBHH. Seniority draws should be happening in MSOP and HR is open to talking about that. We want to make sure that someone is here for both sides (HR and labor). Employees will trust the system more if they are the one pulling the card. We may need to set up a side meeting to further discuss. For MSH we would have to wait until everyone is in the system. HR will talk to Central Office on the timing of getting everyone in and if a report would be available at that point. It usually takes a full pay period to make sure everyone is in the system. Would it be possible to Vidyo the draw? We would like the members to see it firsthand. HR will talk to Central Office and see what they can come up with.
11. Assault a. Management stated that we have had a good week and that staff have been very present on the units. People are doing really good work with really challenging patients. Patients have not had a reaction to the assault and that is kudos to the staff. OSI is getting very good information. This is allowing them to act on things really quickly. OSI is building a file and will keep the information for future reference.
12. Scheduling Office – Holiday Error a. There was an error with scheduling the upcoming holidays. The staffing was cut too short so we are extremely short. Tom Christensen said that he apologizes in advance. They are looking for any volunteers to work overtime because of the over granting and reaching out to intermittents. They are trying to reach out early on. This information will be posted on Schedule Anywhere. Molly Kennedy said that it was posted on the MSH OT Facebook page as well. Management stated that they are not interested in ruining someone’s holiday. We are hopeful this does not happen again.