8/6/08 DOC           Labor Management Meeting UNION SUMMARY 

Present: 

MANAGEMENT: Comm. Harold Clarke, Dep. Comm. Veronica Madden, OER Jeffrey Bolger, Director Karen Hetherson, Dep. Comm. Dep. Comm. Duval,

Assoc, Comm. Ken Nelson,

UNION :President Robert Cutting, Vice Pres. Laurel Donnelly, Vice Pres. Ernie Wessell, Chapter Exec. Officer John Cunningham, Recording Sec. Gina Sousa

1. Transfer Posting MOU – up for review:  Concern on the E Board’s part on whether we want to reenter into the MOU.  We are not sure if there is an advantage to us.  The issue is with not being able to transfer for 12 months after accepting a transfer.  Dep. Comm. Duval stated that he does not have any problem reverting back to not being so strict with that language but how do we deal with the same person being able to transfer over and over and not being able to keep staff in certain divisions?  We will discuss it more.  Bob Cutting stated a proposal could be made by the State that certain divisions would not go by the transfer list but we feel we have agreed to sufficient positions already as “Commissioner Picks” and any further expansion is most probably not acceptable.

1. Swap Agreement up for review:  Bob Cutting stated that this will be discussed in more detail at a later date.  He needs to get info from SMCC.  Jeff Bolger stated that the criteria that needed to be met in order to continue the agreement was to keep sick time below 13.4%.  Sick leave is now 10.98%.  CPOs have upheld their part of the bargain.

1. CRPU – MCI F staffing; outsourcing work:  Bob Cutting stated that BSH was assigned the overflow of MCI Framingham CRPU work.  This should not have happened.  OT should have been utilized.  Veronica Madden stated that there was no OT to offer.  There was an emergency situation and bodies needed to be moved to SMCC.  A plan had been entered into to provide some short term relief for Framingham’s bed crisis.  The DOC does not intend to “rob Peter to pay Paul on a long term basis.”  Four new CPO positions have been designated for MCI Framingham.  Bob Cutting stated -that if a post needs to be covered within other bargaining units OT is allowed without question.  If work NEEDS to be done then OT should be allowed for our Officers.  There seems to be a practice of dumping on the CPOs.

Dep. Comm. Duval stated that the fiscal year was extended to July 5^th and the DOC needed to count their pennies.  Cutting stated that they could have offered comp time and that may have been acceptable to some CPOS.  Ken Nelson stated that Supt Bergeron called him and stated that she had had a conversation with Supt Bissonette and during that conversation she had said that if Framingham ever needed help, Bissonette should call her.  Bissonette did.  Bergeron then had a conversation with you (Cutting) but then you were out of the facility for a couple of days.  She then had the conversation with me.  Because of the count and CPO situation at MCI Framingham, I told Supt Bergeron to do whatever she needed to do to help Framingham.  Bob Cutting stated that Supt Bergeron never spoke to him. In fact the Deputy Supt. Called him and stated that , “we would like to have the BSH CRPU assist MCIF”. Bob stated that he could not agree to that and MCIF staff should be hired to complete the assignment.  That appeared to be the end of the issue but when Bob was offsite the Deputy approached the BSH CRPU staff and convinced them to comply with her request.  Bob strongly objected to this practice and stated that at minimum it was dishonest and may rise to the level of an Unfair labor Practice.

1. Alternative Work Schedule:  Bob Cutting stated that all over the country more and more people are being given the option to work a 4 day work week.  He did find some info on the Federal Bureau of Prisons using a 4 day work week but he is not inclined to spend all his free time researching the practices in other areas.  The bottom line is that the Department already has an alternative work schedule policy in place and they need to make a decision on whether or not they are going to make a commitment to this.  As the current procedure stands, CPOs who put in for an alternative schedule are more likely to get it if they have child care issues.  Those who want to use it in order to carpool are being denied and told that that is not what the alternative schedule is for.  Veronica Madden stated that that was because of the “family friendly” wording that is used.  Bob Cutting asked if it wasn’t a family friendly to save 50% on the family’s transportation budget thus leaving addition money for food, clothing etc for the children!.  Dep. Comm. Duval stated that in most states that have a 4 day work week, the authorization has come from the Governor’s Office and has been a statewide initiative.  In a lot of states, public safety agencies are exempt.  Karen Hetherson stated that right now 55 CPOs have some type of  alternative work schedule.  Commissioner Clarke stated that maybe different Supt’s are interpreting things differently.  The DOC should look at how things are being done.  We could never do it on a wide scale but we need to make sure that everyone is aware of the policy and that things are done consistently.  Dep. Comm. Duval stated that he would find out what people are doing and get back to the union.  Ken Nelson stated that Peter Pepe is heading a work group on this issue.  The group is very near completion of their work.

1. Program Coordinators, status of information request dated 5/22/08:  Bob Cutting said that he received the material and has started reviewing it.

1. Reentry and Parole:  Laurel Donnelly asked how far the DOC has gotten with any solutions.  Just about every inmate who gets Parole is given a vote to a long term program and the beds are not there.  Veronica Madden stated that she met with SMOC on statistics and program compliance.  They are up against the same issues that we are because the housing stock is limited.  They are also getting a disproportionate amount of sex offenders.  The DOC is looking at possibly putting caps on SMOC referrals.  There was talk of the wrap around services and how following inmates for a year after release limits the number of new inmates that can be placed on their caseloads.  She stated that the DOC knows they need to do more to screen and that CPOs need to be given more resources.  Perhaps 6 months out for triage is not enough.  On the Parole piece, the current chair of the Parole Board could be leaving to become a judge in Belchertown.   Some of the discussions have been moving slow.  They did talk about the consistency of the packets.  They explored the possibility of other staff doing if.  Veronica Madden said that “frankly they should have clerical staff doing the packets”.  The DOC has broken through the logjam in getting across that this impinges on our staff.  Madden stated that the heavy handedness of certain IPOs was also brought up another meeting is scheduled in September.  DOC will have something more detailed in September.  Laurel Donnelly stated that it was stated at a previous labor mgmt meeting that a represent of the union should be involved in these meetings.  Has that changed?  Veronica Madden stated that she thinks what was discussed was that Parole would have a small group and the DOC would have a small group – sort of a work group.  That is still on the table.  Madden stated that they are probably not going to get a solution until there is a successor to Maureen Walsh.  Madden stated that there was an agreement to take on Parole duties and it was signed by the union.  She stated that she is trying to get a meeting set up with the Commissioner of Probation.  No date has been set.  It was suggested that the union get together info on issues/ problems that can be passed along as part of this meeting.

Additional Issues

1. Promotions on the sly:  Bob Cutting asked if it was true that the CPO A/B in the Sex Offender Unit was given a promotion to a CPOC and allowed to stay there.  Karen Hetherson said yes.  Bob Cutting stated that the union agreed to this practice for the Academy and Investigations only.  It was never agreed upon with regards to the sex offender unit.  Karen Hetherson stated twice that the CPO in question was reached on the list.  It was asked if the position had ever been posted.  She stated that it had not.  Dep. Comm. Duval stated that it has been an issue getting qualified candidates in the Divisions.  Gina Sousa stated that there could have been other qualified candidates for this position.  Dep. Comm. Duval asked that this be discussed at a later date.

1. MGT report:  Bob Cutting asked if the report was available yet.  Duval stated that he has a draft of the report but is still waiting for the hard copy. (This is a Staffing – “best practices study”

1. Spectrum:  Laurel Donnelly stated that there was no one currently doing the Reentry Workshop at Gardner or SBCC and the MCI S person had been out for a couple of months and that it seems as though Spectrum is not fulfilling their contract obligations.  Veronica Madden stated that MHM has taken a lot of Spectrum people.  Sue Moitozo is concerned about the difficulty retaining staff.  Madden believes that Spectrum salaries are on the low end.  If Spectrum needs to increase salaries then the DOC can talk about reordering some of the points in the contract.  She stated that they do not hold vacancies as a means to soften their contract.

1. Union release time:  Jeff Bolger stated that there is contract language that allows the union to meet with employees during an orientation period.  What caught his attention was that Bob Cutting had put in a request for 5 individuals to talk to the new recruits.  From his past experience, when Laurel was the President and Ken was the Vice President, only 2 have been authorized to go.  The language says  “a union representative.”  Bob Cutting stated that since he has been involved with the union there has always been at least 3 people and we are trying to get other Stewards and Reps. Involved and trained.  A few times Parole Chapter Board Members were even involved.  Duval asked that he and Cutting discuss this.

1. Future Changes:  Duval stated that beds are being added to SBCC(double bunk).  The DOC has come up with a tentative plan to install 30 new beds in half of the units.  There will be 60 beds on site within the next week.  He stated that we need to deal with overcrowding ourselves for the foreseeable future.  The master plan is scheduled to be completed in December but could be delayed by a month.  Even if it is completed on time it might not offer any relief for 2-3 yrs.  The DOC is also wondering if MCI CJ is a better place to have a reception center and whether MCI C might be better served as a medium facility institution.  In the future they are looking at expanding MCI S min by another 40-50 beds.  They are also looking for supporting administration and staff at MCI S min.  They are looking to double bunk SBCC and add another 50 beds at OCCC minimum.  They are also looking at the ramifications involved with possibly consolidating all the mental health cases to one institution.  Also it appears that the National Guard will be leaving 50 Maple Street in the next 2-3 yrs and we are hoping that this would become our Central Office.  We would be moving most divisions( ie re-entry; Victim Services) here as well as the Training Academy.