Attach_6_Collective_Bargaining_Agreement.pdf

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT

Between

S. C. JONES SERVICES, INC.

and

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF

MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS,

DISTRICT LODGE 166, LOCAL LODGE 2915,

AFL-CIO

Otctober 1, 2018 to September 30, 2021 i

Preamble

ARTICLE 1 - RECOGNITION

ARTICLE 2 - NONDISCRIMINATION

ARTICLE 3 - UNION REPRESENTATION

ARTICLE 4 - DUES DEDUCTIONS

ARTICLE 5 - MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

ARTICLE 6 - GRIEVANCES

ARTICLE 7 - SAFETY AND HEALTH

ARTICLE 8 - SENIORITY

ARTICLE 9 - UNIFORMS

ARTICLE 10 - WAGES

ARTICLE 11 - FRINGE BENEFIT RATES

ARTICLE 12 - OVERTIME

ARTICLE 13 - HOLIDAYS

ARTICLE 14 - VACATION

ARTICLE 15 - HEALTH INSURANCE

ARTICLE 16 - LAYOFFS

ARTICLE 17 - NO STRIKES AND NO LOCKOUTS

ARTICLE 18 - PAST PRACTICE

ARTICLE 19 - SEVERABILITY

ARTICLE 20 - AMENDMENT OF AGREEMENT

ARTICLE 21 - DURATION AND TERMINATION

Preamble

This Agreement has been entered into this 1st day of October, 2015 by and between S. C.

Jones Services, Inc., hereinafter referred to as the “Employer” and International

Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, District Lodge 166, Local Lodge

2915, AFL-CIO, hereinafter referred to as the “Union.”

In consideration of the promises and agreements hereinafter stated, the parties agree as set out below.

ARTICLE 1 - RECOGNITION

Section 1. The Employer recognizes the Union as the exclusive bargaining representative for the full-time and regular part-time landscape maintenance employees employed by the Employer at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida, excluding supervisors and all other employees.

ARTICLE 2 - NONDISCRIMINATION

The provisions of this Agreement shall apply to all employees covered by this

Agreement without discrimination on account of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, disability, age or union membership in accordance with applicable law.

ARTICLE 3 – UNION REPRESENTATION

1. Union Stewards.

The Union shall designate in writing to the Employer who are to serve as Union

Stewards to represent employees in disciplinary proceedings, or to confer with the

Employer concerning disputes or differences arising under this Agreement.

Unless prior authorization is obtained from the Project Manager or his designee.

Union Stewards may not utilize working time for any Union-related business or activities.

2. Investigative Interviews.

An employee may request the presence of a union steward during an investigative interview by management which reasonably could be the basis for discipline as long as a union steward is reasonably available. In the event the steward requested by the employee is also the subject of the investigation, the employee will request an alternate union representative.

ARTICLE 4 – DUES DEDUCTIONS

1. Any member of the bargaining unit who has submitted a properly executed written dues deduction authorization to the Employer may have initiation and membership dues in the Union deducted from such employee’s pay. Dues shall be deducted on a biweekly basis and transmitted to the Union once per month. It shall be the responsibility of the Union to certify the amount of any dues to be deducted and notify the Employer of any change in the amount of dues to be deducted, at least thirty (30) days in advance of the deductions. No deduction shall be made from the pay of any employee for any payroll period in which the employee’s net earnings for that pay period, after other deductions, are less than the amount of dues to be deducted. The Employer will not be required to deduct Union fines, penalties, or special assessments from the pay of any employee. An employee may revoke in writing an authorization for dues deduction at any time by sending a written request to the Employer, and the

Employer shall cease making deductions within 30 days of receipt of such revocation.

2. The Union agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Employer, its employees and agents from and against any demands, damages, causes of action (including, but not limited to claims based upon clerical or accounting errors caused by negligence), judgments, attachments or claims of any nature whatsoever, asserted by any person, firm or entity, arising out of the application of this article. The

Union agrees to defend, at its sole expense, any such claims against the Employer or its employees and agents.

ARTICLE 5 – MANAGEMENT RIGHTS

The Employer reserves and retains, solely and exclusively, all of the rights, privileges and prerogatives it had or possessed prior to the execution of this Agreement and that it would otherwise have in the absence of this Agreement, regardless of the frequency or infrequency with which such rights have been exercised in the past, except to the extent that such rights, privileges and prerogatives are specifically and clearly abridged by express provisions of this Agreement. Without limiting the generality and breadth of the foregoing, the Employer’s sole, exclusive and unilateral rights shall include, but are not confined to, at least the following:

1. To control, direct, supervise and manage the work force;

2. To determine whom to employ, including the qualifications, recruitment, selection, hiring and training of employees;

3. To determine the initial rate of pay for newly hired employees;

4. To hire and utilize temporary personnel;

5. To assign or allow employees in supervisory or managerial positions to perform landscape maintenance duties;

6. To promote, demote, transfer, lay off, furlough and recall employees;

7. To discipline and discharge employees for cause;

8. To create, establish, adopt, change or rescind operating procedures, work and safety rules, rules of conduct, guidelines, policies and procedures, including, but not limited to, drug testing programs;

9. To establish and enforce methods, means and standards for the work required to be performed;

10. To determine the size and composition of the work force and the schedule of operations and hours of work, including the number and hours of work per day and per week, the number of shifts required, the starting and ending times of such shifts, the number and length of any break times and meal times during each shift, and the number, qualifications and identity of employees assigned to any particular shift or operation;

11. To determine and direct operations, modes and methods of providing landscape maintenance and related duties;

12. To determine job duties and the division of duties between job classifications and the employees within those classifications;

13. To specify work requirements and assign work duties;

14. To assign overtime hours as needed;

15. To establish and alter working schedules as needed;

16. To alter, rearrange, change, extend, limit, curtail, suspend, cease or close any or all of its services or operations;

17. To contract out and/or subcontract, relocate, sell, assign, transfer, suspend, cease, or close any bargaining unit work or services;

18. To determine the number, location and types of facilities;

19. To determine the services to be performed, and the location where such services will be performed;

20. To determine the number and qualifications of any employees that may be assigned to any given job, shift, operation or unit.

21. To determine the vehicles, equipment, machinery, tools, methods or processes to be employed in the performance of bargaining unit work;

22. To introduce new or improved vehicles, equipment, machinery, tools, methods or processes and to change or eliminate existing equipment, machinery, methods or processes;

23. To automate methods, processes or operations;

24. To install or maintain security cameras to provide for security; and

25. To determine charges for its services.

It is understood that the Employer shall not be obligated to bargain with the Union over the decision to exercise, or the effects of the exercise, of the management rights above.

The terms and provisions of this Agreement shall be effective only so long as the facilities described in the Article entitled “Recognition” are in operation, and it is recognized that the Employer shall have the unrestricted right and privilege in its sole discretion, to suspend or cease the operations of the facilities or its businesses at the facilities, or any phase or part of such business or operations, whenever, in the opinion of the Employer, good business judgment makes such curtailment or discontinuance advisable.

ARTICLE 6 - GRIEVANCES

Employees may present grievances in accordance with this Article. A grievance will be defined as an alleged violation of this Agreement. In addition, non-probationary employees may ask for a review of disciplinary actions in accordance with this Article. The time limits set forth in this Article will be strictly enforced by the parties unless extended mutually in writing. The fact that the Employer may continue to process an untimely filed or untimely processed grievance will not be construed as a waiver. The Employer will not be deemed to have waived its right to object to an untimely grievance unless such waiver specifically refers to and waives any such untimeliness. Should the Employer fail to decide a grievance within the agreed time limits, the Union may advance the grievance to the next step.

Step 1:

The employee or the Union must first submit a grievance (an oral submission is sufficient) to the project manager within seven (7) calendar days after the incident giving rise to the grievance becomes known to the affected employee or the Union. If the project manager does not have the authority to resolve the grievance, the employee may advance the grievance directly to Step 2. Any settlement in this step will be non-precedent setting and nonbinding in future proceedings.

Step 2:

If the grievance is not resolved at Step 1, the Union must reduce the grievance to writing and present it to the Employer's President within fourteen (14) calendar days of the incident giving rise to the grievance. The written grievance must set forth the following information:

1. A complete statement of the grievance and facts upon which it is based.

2. The articles or sections of the Agreement claimed to have been violated.

3. The remedy or correction requested.

The Employer's President or his designee will issue a written decision within fourteen

(14) calendar days of receipt of the written grievance.

Step 3 - Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service:

If the grievance is not settled at Step 2, within 14 days of the Step 2 decision, either the Union or the Employer may request the Federal Mediation & Conciliation

Service to assign a federal mediator to meet with the parties and attempt to resolve the grievance. The Union will be represented by Business Manager (or his/her designee) and the Employer will be represented by its President (or his/her designee). The parties will negotiate in good faith concerning the grievance and continue to meet with the federal mediator until the parties have reached an agreement resolving the grievance or the mediator declares an impasse in negotiations. The parties and the mediator may participate telephonically in the negotiations. In the event of the mediator declares an impasse in negotiations, it is understood that the prohibitions of Article 19 (No Strikes and No Lockouts) will be suspended for purposes of this dispute.

ARTICLE 7 – SAFETY AND HEALTH

The Employer and the Union will cooperate in the continuing objective of eliminating accidents and health and safety hazards. The Employer shall provide safety equipment and devices for employees as mandated by state and federal law. The Union will encourage all employees to work in a safe manner. Failure by employees to utilize provided equipment and devices, or neglect or failure by an employee to obey or observe safe practice rules and regulations may result in disciplinary action.

ARTICLE 8 - SENIORITY

1. Seniority shall mean an employee's length of continuous service with the

Employer. If application of the preceding sentence results in two or more employees having the same seniority, then alphabetical order by last name will determine the more senior.

Seniority shall be applicable only as expressly provided in this Agreement.

2. An employee's seniority shall be terminated for the following reasons:

a. discharge;

b. resignation;

c. failure to return to work upon expiration of a leave of absence;

d. layoff for a period of 90 days or for a period equal to the employee’s seniority, whichever is less.

ARTICLE 9 - UNIFORMS

The Employer will purchase the following items for employees covered by this

Agreement: 11 sets of shirts and pants. The Employer will pay fifty percent (50%) of uniform service costs.

ARTICLE 10 - WAGES

During the term of this Agreement, employees will receive the following wage increases:

Effective October 1, 2018: One percent (1%);

Effective October 1, 2019: One percent (1%);

Effective October 1, 2020: One percent (1%).

ARTICLE 11 – FRINGE BENEFIT RATES

Effective October 1, 2018, the following fringe benefit rate will apply to employees covered by this Agreement: $5.55 per hour.

ARTICLE 12 - OVERTIME

All employees covered by this Agreement will be paid overtime at one and a half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week.

ARTICLE 13 - HOLIDAYS

1. Regular full-time employees are eligible for ten (10) paid holidays each year.

The holidays listed below will be observed.

New Year’s Day Labor Day Martin Luther King’s Birthday Columbus Day Washington’s Birthday Veterans’ Day Memorial Day Thanksgiving Day Independence Day Christmas Day

2. Regular full-time employees will normally receive holiday pay based on their regularly scheduled work day, but the Employer may substitute another day off with pay.

3. Any employee who fails to work his full scheduled shift the day before and full scheduled shift the day after the holiday shall not be entitled to holiday pay, except an unavoidable absence due to illness or injury as certified by a qualified health care provider.

ARTICLE 14 - VACATION

1. Regular full-time employees will receive two (2) weeks’ paid vacation after one (1) year of service, and three (3) weeks after five (5) years. Length of service for purposes of this article includes continuous service with the

Employer and predecessor contractors in the performance of similar work at

MacDill A.F.B.

2. To minimize disruptions, all requests for vacation must be requested and approved in advance per Employer guidelines.

ARTICLE 15 – HEALTH INSURANCE

1. As a result of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s (“ACA”) requirement that applicable employers offer full-time employees minimum essential health coverage that is affordable and provides minimum value, the parties agree that: (1) the Employer will offer health coverage to all full-time employees under the Employer’s group health plan, and (2) if coverage is elected, the Employer’s fringe benefit contribution amount for each covered employee will be used to cover the cost of health coverage for covered employees under the

Employer’s group health plan. It is understood that the Employer has the right to change or cease any coverages, premiums, “out-of-pocket” amounts, or deductibles or carriers during or after the term of this Agreement, provided the

Employer offers and maintains coverage consistent with this article.

2. If an employee declines coverage under the Employer’s group health plan, the employee must properly execute a Health Plan Opt Out Election Form and provide sufficient proof of enrollment in and coverage under other comprehensive health coverage by the Employer’s designated deadlines. If the employee fails to provide sufficient proof of other comprehensive health coverage by the

Employer’s designated deadlines, the employee will be enrolled in the

Employer’s group health plan, and the Employer’s fringe benefit contribution will be used to cover the cost of coverage for the covered employee. Other comprehensive health coverage includes major medical insurance, such as employer-sponsored comprehensive health coverage, or health coverage through

Medicaid, Tricare, or similar governmental programs. Coverage that is not considered other comprehensive health coverage include, but are not limited to, mini-medical plans, fixed indemnity plans, limited indemnity, disease-specific insurance plans, supplemental plans, and state-based share of cost plans.

3. If the Employer’s fringe benefit contribution amount exceeds the Employer’s cost of health coverage under the group health plan, the employee will have the option to choose to: (1) receive the excess fringe benefit contribution amount as a cash equivalent payment subject to withholdings; or (2) apply the excess fringe benefit contribution as a subsidy toward the cost of coverage for the covered employee’s dependents.

4. The parties acknowledge that because the full impact of, and the requirements under, ACA, are unknown, the Company’s cost of health coverage may increase within the next three (3) years. The parties agree that if the cost of health coverage increases under the group health plan such that the cost of health coverage exceeds the Company’s fringe benefit contribution amount, the Company will be permitted to require the covered employees to pay the portion of the health coverage cost that exceeds the fringe benefit contribution amount. In no event will the covered employees’ required contribution under this paragraph exceed the

ACA affordability standards.

ARTICLE 16 - LAYOFFS

In the event of a layoff, employees will be selected based upon qualifications, skills, ability and performance. Similarly, in the event of recall, employees will be rehired based upon qualifications, skills, ability and performance. If the qualifications, skills, ability and performance of the affected employees are equal in the judgment of the Employer, preference will be given to the more senior employee in the event of layoff or recall.

Employees will be subject to recall from a layoff for a period of 90 days or for a period equal to the employee’s seniority, whichever is less.

ARTICLE 17 – NO STRIKES AND NO LOCKOUTS

During the life of this Agreement or any extension thereof, the Employer shall not lockout employees and the employees and the Union shall not, directly or indirectly, cause or participate in any strikes, including sympathy strikes, or any other type of work stoppage, "sick-out" or slowdown. In the event of any strike, sympathy strike, "sick-out," work stoppage, slowdown, or picketing, the offending employees will be subject to discharge, and the Union will use all means at its disposal to return employees to work. A “lockout” for purposes of this Agreement is defined as the withholding of employment by the Employer for the purpose of gaining a concession or in response to Union demands in connection with collective bargaining.

ARTICLE 18 - PAST PRACTICE

No past or prevailing practice or benefit shall be considered a part of this Agreement except as is included by the express terms of this Agreement.

ARTICLE 19 - SEVERABILITY

The Employer and the Union agree that in the event any provision of this Agreement is declared invalid by a court, agency or other entity of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this Agreement shall remain in full force and effect. If any provision of this Agreement is declared invalid, the Employer and the Union agree that they shall meet within 15 business days to negotiate concerning a replacement provision.

ARTICLE 20 – AMENDMENT OF AGREEMENT

No amendment, alternation, understanding, variation, waiver or modification of any of the terms, conditions, or covenants contained herein shall be effective and in no case shall it be binding upon the parties hereto unless made in writing and executed by a duly authorized officer of the Employer and the Union.

ARTICLE 21 - DURATION AND TERMINATION

This Agreement will be effective upon ratification and shall continue in full force and effect through midnight, September 30, 2021, and thereafter be automatically renewed from year to year, unless the party desiring termination or modification of this

Agreement provides a written notice, by certified mail, upon the other party at least sixty

(60) days prior to the expiration date of this Agreement.