January 12, 2000

Gilchrist 207

Labor Management Meeting

Members in Attendance:

X Susie Baker A Roger Keuter

X Nick Bambach X Marilyn Mercado

X Charlotte Brock X Walt Sanders

X Bob Hartman X Dean Shoars

X Beccy Hurley A Deanna Tovar

X Dan Johnson

The meeting was called to order by Nick Bambach and Susie Baker at 1:30 p.m.

Sandy Law has agreed to take minutes of these meetings, which will be held the second Wednesday of every month from 1:30 – 3:00 in Gilchrist 209. This will be a regularly scheduled meeting unless notice is given a week in advance that the meeting has been cancelled.

DeAnna Tovar is not scheduled to work today. Future meetings may need to be rescheduled if Deanna Tovar is not scheduled to work on the second Wednesday of each month.

The minutes of the December 2, 1999 meeting were read.

A change should be made under the Facilitation of Meetings to read: Nick Bambach and Susie Baker will co-facilitate until it has been decided to rotate meeting facilitators.

Another change to be made under Minutes to read: Minutes will be shared with constituents after they have been approved at the next scheduled meeting.

No active grievances will be discussed

No bargaining of issues covered by specific contract language

Discussions or minutes cannot be used in the grievance process

Agenda items should include a brief explanation of the item

Minutes are taken and shared with the constituencies.

Program belongs to you and its success rests largely with you

Listen alertly to the discussion

Enter into the discussion enthusiastically

Give freely of your experience but don’t dominate the discussion

Confine your discussion to the problem

Say what you think

Only one person should talk at a time. Avoid private conversations while someone else is speaking.

Be patient with other members

Appreciate the other person’s point of view

Be prompt and regular in attendance

The option should be open to add or change ground rules as they become necessary.

Purpose

Taken from the 1999-2001 Collective Bargaining Agreement Master Contract, "The purpose of the meetings shall be to afford both labor and management a forum in which to communicate on items that may be of interest to both parties. The meetings are established as a communication vehicle only and shall not have authority to bind either the Union or management with respect to any of the items discussed. "

Susie shared the Iowa code mandatory subjects of bargaining information.

It was agreed that the purpose of these meetings is to self educate, to listen to what precipitates grievances, and to listen to other points of view.

Bob added that the purpose should also be supportive of the university’s mission and strategic plan.

Dean commented that agenda items should be limited to three to five items maximum.

Susie added and there was agreement that because of time constraints, if an item is not discussed, it will be put on the top of the list for the following month’s agenda.

Bob suggested that a time frame for each agenda item should be estimated and listed. This would aid the facilitator in keeping the meeting within time constraints.

Dean added and there was agreement that those who are absent will be sent drafts of the minutes and it will be their responsibility to contact the co-chair with any questions they may have.

There was agreement among those present that there will be general agreement rather than a vote on issues that affect the group.

There was also discussion and agreement that sometimes we will agree to disagree, and if general acceptance cannot be reached on an issue, reasons would be written on the board for clarification and more discussion. After this process, if a general agreement still cannot be reached, the issue will be tabled and revisited during the following meeting.

1. Finding an AFSCME office on campus
2. Safety committee for DOR
3. Discuss educational topics/items
4. Dealing with ambiguous contract language

Susie Baker and Nick Bambach adjourned the meeting at 3:05 p.m.