DCC Arbitration Win

On April 1, 2004, an arbitration hearing was held at AFSCME Council 24, regarding an MOU # 14 issue, the assignment of institution cases to a "dummy" or "fictitious"caseload in Madison. Present for the union were Council 24 Field Rep Diana Miller, Local 2748 Steward Tracy Mattice, and Local 2748 President Tom Corcoran. Present for the State was an attorney from OSER and the DCC Region 1 Chief. The arbitrator ruled that the employer was violating the union contract by not properly assigning points to the agents responsible for the institution cases in question, thereby avoiding overtime payments under MOU # 14. It was noted during the hearing that although the contract allows for the possibility of excluding some "specialized work units" from MOU # 14 by mutual agreement, the employer has never attempted to work that matter out with the union. Also emphasized during the union presentation were references to the employer's obligation to grant workload credit for "coverage points", under the Workload Adjustment Policy agreement signed by Mr. Beil and Mr. Raemisch, that accompanies MOU # 14. Whether or not the points had been officially assigned to the agents in question, they were still responsible for the work and entitled to workload/overtime consideration. In her ruling, the arbitrator directed the employer to "adhere to MOU # 14", "assign points to bona fide agents", and pay back overtime to the agents cited by the union. The significance of this decision is in the potential protection that it affords to other, similarly situated agents. Local 2748 requests that anyone not receiving full value for "coverage points" for institution (or other cases) contact Jeff Johnson, Laura Welle, or Tom Corcoran. We do want to note that DCC Administration has shown a clear willingness to work with us on workload/overtime matters, with most of the outstanding MOU # 14 issues or grievances headed toward amicable resolution. Also, DCC Administration has committed to providing "Joint Training" with us on MOU # 14 and related workload/overtime matters. The target groups for that training will be AFSCME stewards and DCC managers. In closing, any contract language is only as good as our ability and will to enforce it. A good way for individual agents to assist with this is to periodically review the requirements of MOU #14 and the Workload Adjustment Policy.