Hi everyone!
The CI Labor-Management Committee met on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 10:30am in the Lindero Hall Conference Room. I had previously posted a special message concerning the selection of August furlough days, but I wanted to provide updates on other topics that were discussed.
Manager’s Meeting
All managers were required to attend a meeting on Tuesday, August 4th at 1:00pm to discuss operating under the furlough period. This meeting was called to give a more consistent message to managers concerning furloughs and to answer their questions about operational needs, and the appropriate adjustments to workload. Chapter 324 believes this is a good step to provide clarity and consistency to management.
Management has been clear that the President’s Cabinet expects every office on campus to be considerate during this furlough period and to adjust their expectations concerning service levels. No formal workload adjustments have been discussed. Everything currently on the table will still be expected, but timelines will be adjusted to ensure everyone has a reasonable workload while meeting operational needs. Overtime will only be authorized in the most extreme cases of operational need or to meet regulatory deadlines. Chapter 324 believes that management is acting in good faith with this directive from the President’s Cabinet.
Temporary Employees
We discussed temporary employees who had their previous appointments lapse and are now going month-to-month. Both sides agreed these individuals were currently under an undue amount of stress and likely wondering if they would still have a job. Now that the budget cuts are finalized, management will be renewing temporary appointments as appropriate. Management holds the right under Article 9.6 to make temporary appointments, specifying the expiration dates for the new appointment. Ideally, Chapter 324 would like to see more temporary employees converted to permanent appointments, especially in extreme cases where employees have been temporary for more than two years.
Vacation Requests
Vacation requests may still be submitted by employees to their appropriate administrator. Vacation request and approval is covered under Article 14.9. Vacation requests shall be submitted in writing to the appropriate administrator at least thirty (30) days in advance. All responses must be given within thirty (30) days of submission and are subject to operational needs. Any conflicts in vacation requests shall be resolved by the seniority of the employees. However, it is the intention that no one will be unjustly denied a vacation request during the furlough period except in the most extreme cases. Management acknowledged that employees should still have the right to their vacation time should they decide to use it. Chapter 324 suggests that everyone read up on the vacation request procedure defined in Article 14.9 and should not fear that we will be unable to submit vacation requests.
In-Range Progression vs. In-Classification Progression
Employees have raised concerns that in-range progressions and in-classification progression will be denied for budgetary reasons. Many employees are confused over the difference between these two methods for advancement. This confusion may be exacerbated by the current Human Resources form which is used to request both types of advancement. We want to work with management and Human Resources to create separate forms for any form of advancement for our employees. I wanted to provide some clarification on the difference under furloughs.
In-range progressions (IRPs) are covered under Article 20.40. An IRP is an increase in salary for many reasons (Article 20.40b) within your current classification. Many of you may remember our IRP Campaign from a couple years ago. IRPs can be denied for lack of funds, and given the current budget crisis, no IRPs will likely be approved by management or Human Resources. While we find this disappointing, Chapter 324 feels this is reasonable as those funds do not exist.
In-class progressions or reclassifications are covered under Article 9.25. Reclassifications are changes to a higher classification (i.e. moving from Accounting Tech I to Accounting Tech II), or movement to a new skill level within a classification (i.e. moving from Programmer/Analyst Foundation to Programmer/Analyst Career). Reclassifications may be initiated when an employee or manager believe that the duties assigned to an employee belong to a different classification or skill level. If an employee feels that they are currently working out of classification, then they can apply for a reclassification. Reclassifications cannot be denied for a lack of funds. If funds are not available for reclassification, then the extra duties that have been assigned to the employee outside their classification must be reassigned. A number of you have requested help with applying for reclassifications, and once the dust settles with the furlough plans, and we get more members trained as stewards, we will return to helping those employees with their reclassifications.
One note of caution concerning reclassifications: individuals who apply for a reclassification and receive it will likely have the least seniority in their new classification. Seniority in their previous classification will be frozen at the previous level, which means other employees in that classification could “overtake” the seniority previously held by the employee. It would appear that layoffs are off the table for this budget year, but unless we find a way to increase revenues in the coming budget years, it is possible they are in our future. This should be taken as caution only, but for such an important decision we feel that all aspects of that decision should be considered.
In Union,
Joseph Dobzynski, Jr.
CSUEU Chapter 324 – President