January 27, 2010
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Mike Maass
WSEU Local 82
FROM:
Shannon E. Bradbury
UWM Labor Relations Coordinator
RE:
WSEU Labor/Management Meeting Minutes for January 19, 2010
WSEU Local 82
Stan Yasaitis (AS)
Sharon Windhom (BC)
Mike Maass (BC)
Cecilia Lewandowski (AS)
Cedric Humphrey (BC)
UWM
Shannon E. Bradbury
Kurt Hennemann
Colleen Murphy
Gail Dukes
These Minutes dedicated to the memory of Donald Schmerda, Local 82 union
steward, bargaining team member and frequent attendee to this meeting.
The next meeting will be held Tuesday, February 23. Please respond to items from your area
by Friday, February 19.
The meeting began at 9:07 a.m.
I.
NEW BUSINESS
A. Facility Services Issues. EMS Building. An attendee to the meeting
described a situation in her work area wherein the Custodial Services
Supervisor avoids appropriate conversation in the work unit and speaks with
condescension instead. She described a situation in which the Supervisor uses
newly-hired employees to do the work of one long term employee who doesn’t
do a good job, and rides the new employees when they can’t immediately undo
the carelessness of the long term employee. A meeting was held between the
management and supervisors and the employees to discuss this situation, but
there has been no improvement since, and the employees feel that the
Custodial Services Program Supervisor is incapable of doing anything about
the Supervisor. The employees also complain that this Supervisor does not
pitch in to get the work done when they are short handed.
Engelmann Hall. The Union described a situation of personality conflict
between a Custodian and a Custodial Services Supervisor. The employee feels
harassed, and the union suggests that if the supervisor would leave the
employee alone to work, she would be better able to do a good job. They also
described a situation in which one of the bathrooms in Engelmann was
pressure-washed, and the water leaked to the floor below. They suggested that
that bathroom may not be appropriate for pressure washing.
B. Parking and Transit. The union complained that they did not receive notice
from Parking & Transit of the availability of winter interim-only parking
permits. They also inquired as to the anticipated costs of parking for 2010-11.
C. Workers Compensation. The union inquired about the confidentiality of
health and medical records collected by Workers Compensation whenever thee
is a claim. They simply want to know the safeguards.
II.
OLD BUSINESS
A. Health & Safety
1. Completed or Ongoing Projects
Chemistry 608, 610, 614
EMS E00Q, W130
Mitchell 249, 249A
2. Pending Projects
EMS EB00Q, W130, W330
Greene Museum Project
USR 200G, 277
WATER 100M, 200M
A detailed list is available at:
http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/PPS/Usaa/ASB/projects.pdf
3. Floods. On January 4 a hot water supply line leaked in Sabin 367. On
January 14, the basement of Lapham Hall flooded into the elevator shaft.
4. University Safety and Assurances has hired a new Risk Management
Specialist and Safety Officer, who will be devoted to general campus safety
half of the time.
B.
Benefits. Following up on an inquiry from last month, University Benefit
Specialist Gail Dukes addressed the meeting to discuss at length the recent
changes to health insurance law due to the addition of domestic partner and
adult children benefits. The changes became effective January 10. Basically
if your child is dependent and carried on your health insurance, there are no
tax implications, but if the child is not a dependent, the value of the extra
health insurance is imputed to the employee/parent. The same holds true for
a domestic partner. There is a lot of explanation of these changes on the
UWSA website, http://www.uwsa.edu/hr/benefits/.
C.
Facility Services. Area Assignment. Following upon an item from last
month’s meeting, the Employer responded that new custodians are moved
around to various locations for their initial training, and then generally
assigned an area.
Confidentiality. The union again complained that supervisors leave
confidential documents and sick leave calendars out on their desks where
anyone could read them and asked for a departmental response. They also
asked for a redistribution of the recent “Confidentiality Reminder” memo,
because not all Buildings & Grounds employees received it.
Trash Barrels and Carts. The department will purchase a couple of the sideopening carts, show them to staff and purchase them for those who want
them.
Lists. The seniority list was forwarded in electronic format before the
meeting and handed out in hard copy at the meeting. The list of FS
custodians and their assignments was distributed after the meeting.
Safety and Security. Following upon a discussion from the last meeting
about custodian security in the early mornings, the union asked 1) Are
custodians all required to open their buildings at 6:00 a.m. and 2) How is the
safety of custodians who work alone at 6:00 a.m. ensured? How are safety
protections communicated?
The meeting ended at 11:10 a.m.
III.
Cc:
NEXT MEETING: Tuesday, February 23, in 122 Engelmann Hall, 9:00
a.m.
Carlos Santiago
Bob Grieshaber
Colleen Murphy
Linda Woods
Gail Dukes
Deans/Division Heads
Personnel Representatives
Steve Butzlaff
Mike Reck
Christy Brown
Rita Cheng
Claude Schuttey
Karl Sparks
John Krezoski
Dave Danielson
Dev Venugopalan