by Ali Fuhrman
On June 16, 2023, union representatives met with a mediator and Hennepin County Labor Relations to discuss a dispute regarding a team expectations document that was sent to Financial Administration and Accounting workers at human services hubs and on the transportation team. What follows is a letter we sent to management in response.
The team expectations document is in violation of numerous articles of our union contract. Specifically:
- Leave requests: PTO, vacation, sick time, holiday:
- You only have to give 48-hours notice to request PTO or vacation. That requirement may be waived by your supervisor.
- No such timing requirement exists for unplanned sick or medical absences, what you call “sick calls.”
- There is no two-week requirement to request union leave.
- If too many people request time off for the same dates, seniority, job assignment, and order of submission will be considered.
- Reporting
- The document suggests you have to reach out to your supervisor before escalating incidents.
- This is completely wrong. You have the right to reach out to the union, HR, Non-Discrimination Respectful Workplace area or other state and federal reporting agencies such as Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) or Department of Human Rights before going to your supervisor or manager.
- Recording
- The document says you can’t record at work. State law allows you to record without consent from others. All recording of private resident/client information shouldn’t be recorded.
- Union Rights
- You have a right to request time off to participate in the union. Please contact us every time it’s denied or altered.
We also want to report that we had a great action at the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, June 13. Four workers from FAA spoke out against the way they’ve been treated under Trina Bartok.
We believe this document is discriminatory and retaliatory. We believe the recent termination of Tonicia Ambrose and the targeting of supervisor Shirl Bridges are also discriminatory and retaliatory.
Please reach out if you have additional information or wish to participate in future meetings. You can also respond to my union email address: ali.fuhrman@afscmelocal2822.org