MISC. Legislative Body Hearing Presentation-CWA Impasse (01343537)CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Impasse Resolution
OPENING STATEMENT
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PURPOSE OF THIS HEARING
•Florida law gives final authority and responsibility to the Mayor and
Commission to resolve the impasse in bargaining between the City
and the CWA.
•The Mayor and Commission may consider and resolve only items that
are “properly” at impasse – items that were negotiated at the
bargaining table on which no agreement was reached.
•The Special Magistrate’s Recommendation is only advisory, not
binding.
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THE CITY’S FINANCES – REVENUE
•Three-fourths of the funding for labor costs come from the City’s
General Fund.
•About two-thirds of the revenue for the General Fund comes from
property taxes and resort taxes.
Property Tax Revenue Increases
As of Late 2017
2014 2015 2016 2017
10% 13% 13% 7.8%
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PROPERTY VALUE INDICATORS
•Miami Beach median home value down 4.5% from 2/17 to 3/18.
•A further 2.3% decline is forecast by 2/19.
•11.8% of Miami Beach homeowners are underwater on their
mortgages – the Broward/Miami-Dade average is 9.9%.
•Source: “Miami Beach FL Home Prices & Home Values.” Zillow,
April 5, 2018, www.zillow.com/Miami-beach-fl/home-values/
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THE CITY’S FINANCES – REVENUE
•Receipts from Resort Taxes are volatile
•The Resort Tax Reserves are depleted
and need to be replenished.
•Reserve level as of 9/30/17 (unaudited):
$11.2M
•3 month reserve goal: $14.9M
•Gap: $3.7M
Resort Tax Revenues
Month % Change From
Prior Year
October 2017 -21.1%
November 2017 5.4%
December 2017 -3.8%
January 2018 18.0%
February 2018 10.4%
Fiscal Year To Date 3.9%
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THE CITY’S FINANCES – REQUIRED RESERVES
•City policy requires a reserve of 11% in the General Fund and in the enterprise
funds, with a goal of 17% and replenishment required if the balance falls below 17%.
•General Fund reserve as of 9/20/17 (unaudited): $50.4M
•17% reserve goal: $53.9M
•Gap: $3.5M
•Hurricane Irma impact
•FY 2018: $3.4M
•FY 2019 $1.2M (estimated)
•A 5/7ths vote of the City Commission is required to draw down the reserves below
the 11% level.
•City policy prohibits using non-recurring revenue sources for recurring expenses –
like labor costs. Reserve funds are non-recurring.
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THE CITY’S FINANCES – ONGOING, SUBSTANTIAL,
AND IMPORTANT DEMANDS ON CITY FUNDS
•Sea-level rise – raising streets, replacing/upgrading drainage.
•Traffic – trolley system, intelligent transport system, traffic
information and communication system.
•Parking – garages, reducing on-street parking, directing traffic to
available parking; parking fund will no longer be able to supply
millions to the General Fund as it has in the past.
•Parks – six new or improved parks, park security.
•Tourism – core entertainment district enhancement and security.
•Employee self-insurance funds – anticipated to exceed the budget by
$2 million this fiscal year
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THE CITY’S SLATE OF PROPOSALS
•Article 1 “Recognition” Section 1.3
•Article 2 “Employee and Union Rights” Sections 2.1, 2.2, 2.6
•Article 4 “Grievance Procedure” Sections 4.7, 4.8
•Article 7 “Hours of Work and Overtime” Section 7.4
•Article 8 “Wages and Fringe Benefits” Sections 8.1, 8.12, 8.16, 8.17
•Article 9 “General Provisions” Sections 9.6, 9.18
•Article 10 “Drug and Alcohol Testing”
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Additional Proposals
•The City Manager, in an effort to resolve the dispute, is offering
proposals on a number of other items at impasse. Those proposals
will be set forth after the City proposals. Together, all these proposals
constitute the Manager’s full package to resolve the impasse.
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DISCUSSION OF INDIVIDUAL CITY PROPOSALS
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INITIAL RATE OF PAY – SECTION 1.3 (Tab 1)
•Subsection (a) restores the City’s legal right to set the initial rate of
pay for a new position. It eliminates the mandatory retroactive effect
of any different rate of pay negotiated later with the CWA.
•Subsection (d) deletes obsolete language. The CWA does not oppose.
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RIGHT TO REPRESENTATIVE – SECTION 2.1
(Tab 2)
•Under this proposal, if an employee wants a union representative in a
meeting, the employee asks the union to attend.
•This is what is required by law.
•The old language injects the City into the employee-union
relationship. It burdens the City by requiring it, not the employee, to
notify the union president of any meeting.
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PAID ATTENDANCE AT BARGAINING –
SECTION 2.6 (Tab 4)
•The CWA frequently has numerous employees attend bargaining
sessions. This proposal clarifies that only five may attend on paid
work time; any additional employees who attend must take leave
according to the normal rules.
•The City had offered two alternatives; at the Special Magistrate
hearing, the CWA stated it did not oppose the first alternative.
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GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE/PERSONNEL RULES –
SECTION 4.7 (Tab 5)
•Currently, almost any dispute by the CWA goes to the contract
grievance process. The old language is obsolete. The City proposes to
delete it and simply stay with the grievance process on all disputes.
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UNION TIME POOL – SECTION 4.8 (Tab 6)
•This proposal puts a 20-hour (one-half of a full workweek) per month
cap on the amount of time any one employee can use from the union
time bank.
•The union time bank is a pool of hours that can be used by union
representatives so they can be paid by the City to do union work.
•This proposal does not in any way limit the time available to the
union.
•It does limit any single employee from staying away from the job for
days and weeks – which has happened – and making other
employees take up the slack.
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ELIMINATE COMPENSATORY TIME –
SECTION 7.4 (Tab 7)
•This proposal will put more overtime dollars in the pockets of
employees instead of having them take time off instead.
•The use of compensatory time, which has to be given at 150% of the
overtime hours actually worked, has created major scheduling
problems for critical operations, especially with Police dispatchers
and call takers.
•Having employees absent on “comp” time actually generates more
overtime work, which generates more comp time, and so on in a
vicious cycle. It is more efficient simple to pay overtime.
•This also eliminates “double” time pay in a limited situation. Double
time is not required by law.
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PAY – SECTION 8.1 (Tab 8)
•The City proposes there be no across-the-board pay increase.
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UNION VETO – SECTION 8.1 (Tab 8) (cont.)
•The old language gives the union president a veto over any proposed
change to a range of decisions about jobs, pay, and even market
studies. It also restricts the City’s management rights relating to job
classifications and the structuring of the workforce.
•The City proposal to delete those restrictions merely restores the
situation to what the law allows.
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EVALUATIONS / MERIT PAY – SECTION 8.1
(Tab 8) (cont.)
•The proposal also eliminates obsolete language relating to pay
changes in past years.
•The proposal changes the numerical scores on performance
evaluations from a 20-40-60-80-100 scale to a 1-2-3-4-5 scale, a
purely numerical change.
•The current performance-based merit increase remains the same, at
2%.
•Employees who underperform will be put on an improvement plan
for up to 180 days.
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HEALTH INSURANCE – SECTION 8.12 (Tab 9)
•The City changed and simplified subsection (a) of its proposal at the
special magistrate hearing.
•The City proposal is that, instead of being treated the same as other
City general employees, the City will pay an amount equal to 50% of
the premium cost of the “Open Access Plan” for any level of coverage,
e.g., single, dependent, etc.
•The City would pay the same dollar amount – not percentage –
toward the premium of any premium plan an employee could enroll
in.
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HEALTH INSURANCE – SECTION 8.12 (Tab 9)
(cont.)
•Subsection (b) is unchanged from the current contract.
• Subsection (c) eliminates a requirement that the City may not change
insurance benefits without first consulting a committee. The new
language preserves the existence of a labor-management committee
to address concerns.
•The new proposal also includes language permitting the City to help
employees who have exhausted “ISC” benefits. ISC benefits make up
the difference between workers’ compensation pay and full pay, but it
is limited. The new proposal would allow the City to use an
employee’s accrued leave to keep on paying him or her and maintain
insurance coverage.
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DISPATCHER TRAINEES – SECTION 8.16
(Tab 10)
•Currently, dispatcher trainees receive a 3% pay increase at six months
if they demonstrate competence. In practice, this almost never
happens and the increase, which was intended as an incentive, is
ineffective. Dispatchers who reach twelve months already receive a
2% increase and a 3% increase for cross-training.
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OBSOLETE LANGUAGE – SECTION 8.17
(Tab 11)
•This is obsolete language that needs deletion.
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TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES – SECTION 9.6
(Tab 12)
•The City’s proposal restores its legal management right to hire
temporary employees.
•The current language handcuffs the City when it needs to hire large
numbers of temporary employees for large events. Those needs can
arise with little or even no warning.
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LIFEGUARD PROMOTIONS – SECTION 9.18
(Tab 13)
•This proposal on beach patrol promotions primarily streamlines the
administration of the process.
•Applicants only need to present EMT certification when applying.
•There will be no oral examination.
•There is no need for an additional swim test when they have already
passed one.
•Rule of three gives the City managerial flexibility depending on the
circumstances of a particular promotion.
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DRUG AND ALCOHOL TESTING – SECTION 10
(Tab 14)
•The City’s proposal updates a badly out-of-date drug testing
procedure.
•It updates the drugs tested for.
•It permits blood tests when necessary.
•This article is consistent with the drug testing articles with the FOP,
AFSCME, and GSA.
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DISCUSSION OF MANAGER’S
ADDITIONAL PROPOSALS (Tab 15)
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•4.6 – Arbitration
•City will split cost of arbitrator, court reporter (original and 1 copy), and venue
rental if City space unavailable. Cancellation fee borne wholly by party
cancelling.
•7.6 – Holiday Celebrated And Pay For Working Holiday
•Employees not assigned to a Monday-Friday shift will be paid Holiday Pay on
the actual date of the holiday and not on the date the City observes the
holiday.
•8.10 – Tool Allowance
•Increase from $17.50 to $20.00.
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•8.11 – Uniforms
•City will provide to full-time pool guards 1 sweatsuit per year and 1 winter
jacket every 5 years. City will provide annually to Pool Guards I and II 6 long-
or short-sleeved shirts, in any combination.
•City will provide to female pool guards and to female Ocean Rescue
Lifeguards I and II, and Lieutenant 6 swimsuits, replaced as needed.
•City will provide to Ocean Rescue Lifeguards I, II, and Lieutenant 1 sweatsuit
per year and 1 winter jacket every 5 years. City will provide annually to
Lifeguards I, II, and Lieutenant 6 long- or short-sleeved shirts, in any
combination.
•City will provide on a onetime basis to regular, full-time Lifeguards I, II, and
Lieutenant 1 pair dress pants, 1 Class A shirt, and 1 badge. Lost, damaged, or
stolen badges shall be replaced at the employee’s expense. City will replace
worn dress pants or Class A shirts no more frequently than once per year.
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•8.16 – PSCU
•Certification by Fire Chief.
•Police Department Employees
•Crime Analysis Specialist pay grade changed from H26 to H32 (will be changed
in the Classification/Compensation Plan at Appendix A of the collective
bargaining agreement).
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•8.17 – Code Compliance
•City will send Code Compliance Officer I employees to “FACE Level 1” training
and, if certified, to “FACE Level 2” training within the first 18 months of
employment. Employees who successfully complete both trainings will be
promoted to Code Compliance Officer II after 30 months of continuous
employment as a Code Compliance Officer I.
•The following changes will be made in Appendix A of the agreement:
•Effective October 1, 2017, Code Compliance Officer I pay range will be increased from
H26 to H27. Effective October 1, 2017, any Code Compliance Officer I employee whose
pay is less than the H27 minimum will receive a pay increase to the H27 minimum. This
adjustment will be reflected in any merit pay awarded for Fiscal Year 2017.
•Effective October 1, 2017, Code Compliance Officer II pay range will be increased from
H28 to H31. Effective October 1, 2017, any Code Compliance Officer I employee whose
pay is less than the H31 minimum will receive a pay increase to the H31 minimum. This
adjustment will be reflected in any merit pay awarded for Fiscal Year 2017.
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•Parking
•The following changes will be made in Appendix A:
•Parking Meter Technician I pay range increased from H23 to H25.
•Parking Meter Technician II pay range increased from H25 to H27.
•8.22 – Tuition
•City offers the same tuition reimbursement program offered to all other
bargaining units.
•8.25 – Pool Guards
•City will pay $300 per year to WSI-certified employees.
•8.26 – Parental Leave
•City offers the current parental leave program to all bargaining unit members.
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•9.7 – Political Activity
•City may prohibit unit employees from being a candidate for elected office for
the City of Miami Beach, for Miami-Dade County, and for the State of Florida.
•9.10 – Sunglasses
•Effective upon ratification, City will reimburse Code Compliance Officers I, II,
and Administrator and Parking Enforcement Specialist I and II for sunglasses
to a cap of $125 per year. This is in addition to classifications already
reimbursed for sunglasses.
•9.11 – Subcontracting/Layoff
•Recall period changed from 2 years to 1 year
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CLOSING STATEMENT
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