1. Article 22, Insurance

Section 1

The Employer shall provide a monthly monetary allowance for each employee which shall be applied to the premium cost of individual/dependent group hospitalization and medical insurance coverage as provided by the EMPLOYER. In year 2004, such monthly allowance shall not exceed one hundred percent (100%) of the lowest cost plan (three hundred ten dollars and thirty cents $310.30), for each employee selecting individual coverage. For each employee selecting individual and dependent (family) coverage such monthly allowance shall not exceed six hundred fifty five dollars ($655.00).

If the 2005 premium for the coverage and plan selected by the employee exceeds the 2004 premium, the EMPLOYER shall pay the increase provided that in no event shall the EMPLOYER allowance exceed the following:

INDIVIDUAL
One hundred percent of the lowest cost plan.

DEPENDENT (Family)
Six hundred fifty five dollars ($655.00) plus 50% of the weighted average increase in the family rates.

In no case shall the allowance exceed the actual cost of the group coverage. Any cost balance which exceeds the amount available within the monthly allowance after deduction of the premium for the selected group coverage shall be paid by the employee through payroll deduction.

NOTE:
Employees will be provided the opportunity to opt-out of Hennepin health coverage.

If the decision to allow employees to opt-out results in a documented increase in 2005 health insurance premiums, the Employer shall pick up the cost of such increase.

For specific details regarding employee/Employer contributions, see last page.

2. Dignity and Respect

No later than the first full payroll period following the execution date of the agreement, the Employer proposes the parties establish a county-wide dignity and respect meet and confer team to review this issue with the goal of creating a plan to be utilized by September 1, 2004.

3. Article 2, Recognition

Clerical Unit

Delete as HOUSEKEEPING: Court Clerk; Court Clerk, Senior; Court Specialist Judicial Clerk, (all existed only in District Court).

Delete as HOUSEKEEPING: Duplicating Machine Operator Production Publishing System Operator and Senior Microfilmer.

Add as HOUSEKEEPING: Production Publishing Operator; Production Publishing Operator, Senior; Production Publishing Operator, Principal; CFAS Record Information Specialist.
Health General Service Unit

Delete as HOUSEKEEPING: Facilities Maintenance Operations Mechanic.

Professional Unit (PELRA)

Section 2

HOUSEKEEPING:
Delete reference to “witnessed” and replace with “signature”.
NOTE: This is a typographical error.

Social Services Unit

Delete as HOUSEKEEPING: Psychologist, Forensic (existed only in District Court)

Add as HOUSEKEEPING: Medical Assistant

Section 2

HOUSEKEEPING:
Delete reference to “witnessed” (NOTE: All other AFSCME contracts have deleted this language).

HCMC Para-Professional/Technical Unit

Add as HOUSEKEEPING: Medical Assistant; Security Dispatcher

The Employer is willing to Meet and Confer during the life of this agreement on the composition of the Local 1726 bargaining unit.

HCMC Professional Unit

Add as HOUSEKEEPING: ITS Associate

Probation/Parole Unit

Add as HOUSEKEEPING: Community Corrections Specialist

4. Article 6, Seniority

Section 4,C

Add to end of paragraph:

“In situations when more than one (1) employee in a job class is simultaneously requesting to exercise seniority rights to positions in the same lower job class, the Employer will make reasonable efforts to match scheduled hours by seniority.”

Section 6.

Add the following sentence at end of the section:

"When it is necessary for the Employer to assign/re-assign an employee to a different work assignment, the Employer will provide such employee with two (2) weeks advance notice when practicable".

NOTE: The Employer will provide the union with information regarding cuts in the budgets of Social Services vendors.

5. Article 9, Work Schedules/Premium Pay

HOUSEKEEPING:
Delete all references to 2002 and 2003, replace with 2004 and 2005.

6. Article 11, Vacations

Section 3

Delete reference to two hundred forty hours (240) and replace with two hundred eighty (280) hours.

Section 6

Delete reference to "permanent" in line #1.

7. Article 12, Sick Leave

Section 10

HOUSEKEEPING:
Change Sick Leave for Fitness maximum from $800 per year to $1200 per year.

8. Article 23, Severance Pay

Section 1

HOUSEKEEPING:
Delete reference to five (5) years of continuous service and replace with eight (8) years of continuous service.

Probation/Parole, Clerical, Adult Corrections, Professional (PELRA), HCMC Professional, Legal and Essential Legal Units

HOUSEKEEPING:
Further, fix drafting errors in Social Services, Health General Service and HCMC Para-Professional/Technical Units.

Language should read:

Severance pay shall be paid to permanent employees who have completely terminated their employment with the County in good standing and have completed eight (8) years of continuous service…..

Section (new)

The eligibility provisions of this article regarding years of service shall not apply to permanent employees who die prior to achieving eight (8) years of service with the county.

9. Article 31, Meet and Confer

The parties have agreed to meet and confer on the following issues:

Job Class Flexibility/Service Integration and Productivity (NOTE: This could include the merging of certain job classes during the life of this agreement).

Budget Impacts

The parties shall Meet and Confer with any bargaining unit interested in establishing a Post Retirement Health Care Expense Account.

10. Article 37, Voluntary Leave Without Pay

Delete reference to 2002 and 2003, replace with 2004 and 2005.

11. General Wage Adjustments

Article 38, (Clerical)
Article 39, (Probation/Parole, Health General Services)
Article 40, (Social Services, Professional - PELRA, HCMC Professional,
HCMC Para-Professional/Technical, Legal, Essential Legal)
Article 41, (Adult Corrections)

There shall be no general adjustment to the current wage ranges in either 2004 or 2005.

Dental Insurance
For those bargaining units participating in the Union sponsored dental plan, the Employer shall contribute $.01/hour in 2004 and an additional $.01/hour in 2005.

12. Right of Contracting Services

Article 38 (Health General Services)
Article 39, (Professional - PELRA, Legal, Essential Legal, HCMC Professional, HCMC Para- Professional/Technical)
Article 40, (Clerical, Probation/Parole, Adult Corrections)
Article 41, (Social Services)

The following language shall apply to ALL bargaining units, with the exception of Local 34 and Local 552:

RIGHT OF CONTRACTING SERVICES

Section 1. Nothing in this AGREEMENT shall prohibit or restrict the right of the EMPLOYER from contracting with vendors or others for materials or services.

Section 2. In the event the EMPLOYER finds it necessary to subcontract out work now being performed by existing employees that will result in the layoff of employees, the UNION will be notified no less than ninety (90) calendar days in advance of the date the employees will be laid off as a result of the decision to subcontract. During the ninety (90) day period, the EMPLOYER will meet with the UNION and discuss ways and means of minimizing any impact subcontracting may have on employees.

In the event that existing employees are laid off as a result of the EMPLOYER engaging in a contract for service, the EMPLOYER agrees to make reasonable effort to relocate such employees in other positions for which they are qualified.

Status quo for Local 34. Further, for Local 552, delete the reference to 2003 and replace with 2005 in section 2.

13. Term of Agreement Article

Change reference to 2002 and 2003 to 2004 and 2005.

14. Supplemental Issues

Local 34

The parties have agreed to add the job class of Medical Assistant to the unit.

The parties have agreed to Meet and Confer regarding the Human Services Representative 1, 2, 3 Series (Team Concept). The issue of workload shall be a part of this discussion.

Local 552

The parties have agreed to Meet and Confer on the issue of firearms (see letter).

Local 977

The Employer shall provide a new bulletin board as requested. The parties shall Meet and Confer as to location.

The parties have agreed to remove the Mediation Step from the grievance procedure.

The Employer is willing to Meet and Confer regarding the threshold for paying Health Care Assistants as Patient Services Coordinators (four (4) hours vs. three (3) hours).

Local 1726

The parties have agreed to remove the Mediation Step from the grievance procedure.

The parties have agreed to add the following new job classes to the unit:

Security Dispatcher
Medical Assistant

The Employer proposes to add the following language to the agreement at Article 9, Work Schedules/Premium Pay:

Section (new)

Approved vacation hours shall count as hours worked for the purposes of computing overtime pay.

Section (new)

Overtime shall be distributed as equally as practicable.

Section (new)

Employees expressly assigned by the Employer to remain in "On Call - Off Premises" status shall receive $2.50 for each hour so assigned.

Local 2474

The parties have agreed to remove the Mediation Step from the grievance procedure.

The parties have agreed to add the following new job class to the unit:

ITS Associate

The Employer proposes to add the following language to Article 31, Meet and Confer:

As previously agreed in our meet and confer activity, the parties shall continue to discuss the HCMC Social Services Compensatory Time Policy, upon completion of the trial period.

The parties agree to Meet and Confer on the Job Description and salary for the Dietitian job class within 60 days of execution of the date of Agreement.

Local 2822

Article 9, Section 19
Change dates from 2002 – 2003 to 2004 – 2005.

Local 2938

The parties have agreed to Meet and Confer on Special Leave Without Pay in the County Attorney's Office.

Essential County Attorney Unit only:
The Office of the County Attorney will modify its compensatory time policy to increase the maximum amount of compensatory time that can be earned annually from 40 to 60 hours.

15. Attachment B (List of County Departments)

Please see the attached lists of County Departments, as established by the Employer. When the newly established Human Services Department is approved by the County Board, the new official organizational chart will be communicated to impacted bargaining units.

Attachment B (List of Hennepin Departments)

The current list of Hennepin Departments is as follows:

County Administration
Children Family and Adult Services County Assessor
Community Health Medical Examiner
Economic Assistance Planning and Development
Health and Community Initiatives Property Services
Training and Employment Assistance Taxpayer Services
Veterans Services Examiner of Titles
Environmental Services Internal Audit
Housing, Community Works and Transit Human Resources
Public Works Management and Support Labor Relations
Transportation
Medical Center Systems
Primary Care
Metropolitan Health Plan
Community Corrections
Budget and Finance
Information Technology
Intergovernmental Relations
Public Affairs
County Attorney
Public Defender
Sheriff
Law Library
Library

NOTE: The bolded departments will likely be folded into one (1) department (Human Services Department)

Again, A new list of Hennepin departments will be provided as soon as the Human Services re-organization is completed by the Employer.

Departments are subject to change by the Employer as changes in its organization structure occur.

Local 2822 and Local 34

For purposes of layoff and recall from layoff (Article 6) and work unit vacancies (Article 26), the Human Services department(s), Community Corrections and Primary Care shall be considered one "Super Department".

16. Side Letters

Two (2) side letters were eliminated by the parties:

12/10/99 Letter: Grievance Handling

11/22/95Letter: Quality Partnership

17. Military Reservists on Active Duty

In April 2003, the Hennepin County Board passed Resolution 03-4-232S1R2 which gave Hennepin Departments the authority to expend contingency funds for the purpose of paying the difference, if any, between salary paid by Hennepin and base salary provided by the military for certain personnel called to active duty. This resolution also provides for the continuation of Health and Dental insurance.

The parties entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to provide this benefit to union members. (grid lost in transition)

2004 PREMIUMS - ACTIVE EMPLOYEES Tentative AFSCME & non-organized contributions
Nov. 19, 2003

HEALTH SINGLE COVERAGE FAMILY COVERAGE
Prem. (Co.cont.) Empl. Cost Prem. (Co.cont.) Empl. Cost
HealthP. (Plan Opt. 1) $300.58 (300.58)
HealthPartners $310.30 (310.30) 0 $869.10 (655.00) $107.05/payc (214.10/mo.)
BCBS CMMw/Copay $362.00 (310.30) $25.85/payc ( 51.70/mo.) $897.50 (655.00) $121.25/payc (242.50/mo.)
BCBS Aware Gold $408.00 (310.30) $48.85/payc ( 97.70/mo.) $1021.00 (655.00) $183.00/payc (366.00/mo.)

EARLY RETIREES Single coverage Family coverage
HealthPartners 0 $558.80/mo.
BCBS CMMw/Copay $51.70/mo. $587.20/mo.
BCBS Aware Gold $97.70/mo. $710.70/mo.