Fight
for Better Health Care
The Steelworkers will once again be joining with
the Dallas City Retired Employees Association (DCREA) on March 23rd
at city hall to promote improved health benefits for both current and
retired employees.
When you are dealing with the
city, nothing is cheap. There are updated studies and comparisons to be
commiss-ioned and distribution costs to get information
out to the public. This takes major bucks, so all city employees need to consider assisting the DCREA to help us
all. After all,
the DCREA can do stuff politically that we currently are barred from doing. So please consider making a donation to their Public Education
Fund.
Please make your check or money order donation (not tax
deductible) to the Dallas City
Retired Employees Association and mail it to DCREA,
P.O. Box 140264, Dallas , TX 75214 Please indicate in the memo portion of your check or money
order that you are a “Current Employee” and that this is for the
"Education Fund." -
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The Time to Join is Now!
Don’t
forget about the 30 day waiting period on certain services for new members.
We don’t want anyone to miss out on assistance should they need it. The
time to join is now, so you will already be a member before any problem that
you need help with occurs.
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Letter
to Council on Civil Service Elimination Proposal
I
would like to share with you several concerns I have with the planned
briefing concerning changes to the Civil Service System.
First
of course, are the statements on page 5. As an employee, I do not recall any
meaningful survey of civilian employees. Nor do I recall my employee
association being given the opportunity to formally present our views. The
only survey that I am aware of was very short and did not go into much
detail. This briefing indicates that employees overwhelmingly felt that an
‘Independent Process’ was important, yet these recommendations are still
being made.
On
Page 10, Please note the major reasons for modifications or reversals. It is
important that the City catch its mistakes in-house, anything else could
result in costly lawsuits for the city. We need an independent Civil Service
to oversee personnel actions. HR has never been an independent department;
they have historically been there to make sure the will of the department is
carried out. They do not advocate for the employees nor will they be allowed
to look out for the long term interests of the city.
Civil
Service hiring has improved diversity and is still needed today. Without
Civil Service reviewing the mandated interview panel policy, many qualified
people would have been passed over in favor of the ‘buddy system’ and
Dallas
would not
today have a diverse workforce.
I
take exception to the statement that ‘Problem employees do not stay fired.
They most certainly do. However the employees who have been unfairly
singled out or who were fired due to bad management decisions will get their
jobs back. Is this wrong? Should we go to a system where bad disciplinary
actions fester and demoralize our employees until the federal government
takes notice or class action lawsuits are filed? Surely we value our
employees enough to wish to correct the problems that may be on our side
without requiring them to jump thru expensive legal hoops or create an
atmosphere of permission for bad management practices?
This
briefing notes that there is a problem with lengthy delays in getting thru
the appeal process. There often is, and those delays are almost always due
to foot dragging on the city’s side. I assure you that time guidelines are
strictly enforced against employees, but departments seldom answer appeals
in a timely manner. Often the employees have to send a letter to the ACM
over the department to get the process moving again.
I will
try to sum up quickly, but would be more than happy to discuss this further
if you need more information. Please note that one idea to simplify this
division of labor is missing. Quite a bit of clarity would result if the
Civil Service process of hiring and appeal was granted to ALL employees.
This would leave H.R. free to concentrate on their core mission of advising
and servicing the departments. On the matter of training to solve all our
problems, would it not be better to go ahead with the supervisor training to
see if it resulted in improvements before we eliminate such an important
safety net? Also, please note that training is often the first thing cut in
a budget crunch. Why should we leave future employees with no impartial form
of appeal and at the mercy of untrained supervisors? And lastly, any appeal
step reductions should take place in the department. Often the only
impartial review the employees get is once a case leaves the department.
Some department directors believe that backing up their staff is the most
important thing, when the most important thing should be that justice is
served. Thank you for your
patience and consideration. - M. R. Frey, Steelworkers
Http://www.dallascityhall.com/dallas/eng/council_briefings/briefings/20050202_cvs_hr_eff_review.pdf
Dr. Elba García - Dist 1 Ph: (214)
670-4052 Fax: (214) 670-1815 egarcia@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
John Loza Dist 2 Ph: (214) 670-4048 Fax:
(214) 670-1816 jloza@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Ed Oakley Dist 3 Ph: (214) 670-0776 Fax:
(214) 670-1833 edoakle@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Dr. Reese - Dist 4 Ph: (214) 670-0781
Fax: (214) 670-5117 mtreese@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Donald W. Hill - Dist 5 Ph: (214)
670-0777 Fax: (214) 670-3409 dwhill@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Steve Salazar- Dist 6 Ph: (214) 670-4199
Fax: (214) 670-1833 ssalaza@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Leo Chaney, Jr. - Dist 7 Ph: (214)
670-4689 Fax: (214) 670-1819 lchaney@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
J. Fantroy - Dist 8 Ph: (214) 670-4066
Fax:(214) 670-1834 jfantro@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Gary Griffith -Dist 9 Ph: (214) 670-4069
Fax: (214) 670-5117 gargrif@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Bill Blaydes - Dist 10 Ph: (214)
670-4068 Fax: (214) 670-1843 bblayde@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
L. Finkelman - Dist 11 Ph: (214)
670-7817 Fax: (214) 670-0765 lfinkel@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
S Greyson - Dist 12 Ph: (214) 670-4067
Fax: (214) 670-5650 sgreyson@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
M. Rasansky - Dist 13 Ph: (214) 670-3816
Fax: (214) 670-1831 mrasans@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
Forsythe Lill - Dist 14 Ph: (214)
670-5415 Fax: (214) 670-1847 vlill@mail.ci.dallas.tx.us
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Department Changes
Cause Confusion
Q.
Recently several of us have been told that our positions are being
downgraded. How does this work?
A.
While departments can make changes to suit the needs changing
workloads; all downgrades must be approved by Human Resources. H.R.
will do a review which will include a Position Description
Questionnaire on the duties of the position to see how they have changed.
Continued
from Page 1 At
that time H.R. can accept the downgrade or conduct an on the scene job
audit. After this step H.R. decides if the change in job duties warrants a
downgrade or not. If they decide the downgrade is warranted, paper work is
sent to the department approving the new title and grade and an official
start date is given. Start dates are usually October 1st, but not
always. If the employee makes more than the new positions highest pay, then
they will receive two years protected pay from that official start date. You
can of course request a copy of this form so you will have an official
record of your new pay grade, title and that official start date.
Q.
Are there any other ways that these grade changes might be accomplished?
A.
Sure, a department could decide to put an employee in a lower possession as
a ‘Temporary’ overfill. And then at some future date eliminate the old
position. But, keep in mind, overfills also need H. R. approval and will
result in official paperwork which you as an employee need a copy of.
Q.
Why is it important that I get copies of the H. R. approvals for changes in
my position?
A.
Well, lots of reasons, one being that you need to absolutely know what
position and grade your new position is. This makes sure that there is NO
confusion later down the road with you saying, “well you said I was going
to be a grade X” and your department saying, “Oh no, we told you that
you would be a grade Y.” Mistakes happen, supervisors move on and two
years from now it will be a game of ‘he said, she said’. It is best for
everyone to be clear on what is exactly happened.
Q.
With so many changes happening in my department is there anything I should
do?
A.
Yes, you should ask in writing that your supervisor to provide you with a
written statement of what your current Job Title, Pay Grade and Duties are.
Also if there has been any downgrading, you need to have it noted
that this downgrade occurred not because of your job performance but because
of the changing needs of the department.
Q.
Why is that important? I didn’t do anything wrong?
A.
Of course not and this just makes it official and makes sure that everyone
is on the same page. This sort of documentation will also make it less
awkward if you apply for other positions.
And then too, what if your old position is re-instated several months
down the line, but your supervisor has retired or left the department? This
will make it easier to get your old position back. After all if the
downgrade had been due to work performance, there would have been reviews,
or letters of counseling letting you know your performance was
lacking.
Q.
What should I say if someone tells me that the Steelworkers are okay and
‘on board’ with all the changes that are happening right now.
A.
Well first off, you call tell them that is a lie. Neither the Association
nor any of its executive board have ever expressed any approval for
employees being downgrade-ed, or even re-assigned with out them requesting
it. Provided they follow the H. R. rules, it may be within the
department’s rights to make such changes, but we will never endorse them.
So if you hear other wise, someone is very much mistaken. We also urge all
employees to make sure that the paper work for all such changes is official
and that they have a copy of it. If
you need any help requesting your documentation call the office,
214-760-7422 Scott, Mark or Roy can help. – M. R. Frey
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