vs. ) CASE NO. 76-048
) PERC NO. 8H-RC-753-0200
Respondent. )
A representation hearing, pursuant to notice was held in this cause on February 24 and 25, 1976, in Room C, Haydon Burns Public Library , 122 North Ocean Street, Jacksonville, Florida. Moses Meide, Jr., Esquire, 400 Guaranty Life Building, 137 East Forsythe Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202, appeared in behalf of the Petitioner, Supervisors Association of Jacksonville, and Micheal Nabi, Esquire, Assistant Counsel, City of Jacksonville, City Hall, Jacksonville, Florida 32202, appeared in behalf of the City of Jacksonville, Public Employer. The witnesses presented in this cause were Bill N. Davis, Director of Employee Relations, for the City of Jacksonville; Newby Kelt, Classification and Compensation Officer, for the City of Jacksonville; Jack Petty, Chief of Personnel Administration, for the Jacksonville Electric Authority; Tom Todd, Director of Personnel Services, for the University Hospital; Joe H. Hyatt, Deputy Director of Public Works, for the City of Jacksonville; and Clifford Mendoza, Personnel Manager, for the Jacksonville Port Authority. Inquiry was made by the undersigned concerning the notice of hearing, and the parties stipulated and agreed that the notice of hearing was adequate. A copy of the notice of hearing is entered into the record as Hearing Officer's Exhibit #1.
In considering the petition itself, discussion was entered into concerning the petition document which was given the current case number and was filed August 13, 1975. During the course of the hearing, it was indicated by the Petitioner that it wishes to include within the unit "All supervisory employees in the City of Jacksonville and independent agencies exclusive of appointed officials." It was also shown that these employees would include employees who are under the so called exempt pay plan. Within this exempt pay plan are employees who are referenced by code number as 002 employees, which are common to the General Government of the City of Jacksonville, the Jacksonville Electric Authority, and the University Hospital. The Jacksonville Electric Authority also has other employees who are under the exempt pay plan and who are code numbered 006 employees. The University Hospital likewise, has employees who are under the exempt pay plan category and who are identified as 016 employees. The Jacksonville Port Authority has employees who are considered under the exempt pay plan, but who do not have the code reference numbers. All of the above listed categories were contemplated by the Petitioner's proposed unit, according to the statement offered in the hearing in explanation of the meaning of paragraph #4 of the petition. Employees under the exempt pay plan
who are excluded by the statement of the Petitioner and agreement of the Public Employer are, 013, Police Department; 014, Fire Department; and 017, the School Board Employees. Further discussion of the categories mentioned above will be made in the course of this report. Reference is made hereby to paragraph #5 of the petition document which shows the approximate number of employees in the proposed unit to be 600. In fact it was shown in the course of the hearing that there are approximately 1,097 employees in the 002 category in the combined count of the General Government in the City of Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Electric Authority. There are 29 employees of the 002 category in the University Hospital. There are 224 employees of the 006 category in the Jacksonville Electric Authority. There are 35 employees in the 016 category in the University Hospital. The number of employees in an exempt category, which is not coded by number, within the Jacksonville Port Authority is 50.
Therefore, it can be seen that the number of employees contemplated to be involved in the unit somewhat exceeds the estimate of 600. Discussion of the disparity between the approximation found in the petition and the numbers which actually exist may be found on pages 326--328 of the transcript of the proceedings.
The position of the Public Employer on the question of the propriety of the proposed unit set forth by the Petitioner in the course of its petition and the proceedings at the hearing, attacks the description found in paragraph #4 of the petition as being overly broad. Moreover, the Public Employer indicates that the matters set forth in paragraph #5 of the petition are so disproportionate as to make the petition itself defective and by such disparity raises the inference of insufficient support for the petition. The Public Employer also suggest by way of argument that those persons sought for inclusion in the unit by the Petitioner are supervisory employees by the very description in the petition itself and are thereby excluded from being involved in a unit by virtue of Chapter 447, Florida Statutes. In support of this latter comment the Public Employer offered testimony on the question of the managerial and confidential nature of the employees proposed to be included in the unit. A more detailed discussion of their comments on the question of their managerial and confidential status will be developed in the course of this analysis of the record. The Public Employer has also indicated its opposition to including the employees of the several independent agencies and the General Government in one employee organization, with the exception that should the determination be made that some or all 002 type employees should be the proper subject for a unit, then the Public Employer would not object to such a unit. The Public Employer has filed a memorandum brief in support of its position and that memorandum brief is made a part of the record.
Mention is made of the fact that the unit set forth by the petition contemplates the inclusion of employees of independent agencies within the government of the Consolidated City of Jacksonville; to wit, the Jacksonville Electrical Authority, the University Hospital/Duval County Hospital Authority, and the Jacksonville Port Authority. This comment is necessary because the spokesmen for the independent agencies are of the persuasion that they are autonomous in expressing the attitude of their agency on the question of including any of their employees in the proposed bargaining unit. This position is not totally in keeping with the statement of the Director of Employee Relations for the City of Jacksonville, Bill M. Davis, who says that the question of the position of the City of Jacksonville on the inclusion of employees of the independent agencies in a proposed bargaining unit is one of joint consideration by the Director of Employee Relations for the City of Jacksonville and by the independent agency itself. By that, he means that approval of employee contracts carry the signature of the representative of the
City of Jacksonville, General Government and of the managing group of the independent agency. In this instance the possibility of a conflict of the independent agencies and of the City of Jacksonville General Government, on this petition has not materialized. The Jacksonville Electric Authority, through their representative, Jack Petty, asserts that all exempt categories including 002 and 006 are managerial and/or confidential, but if this theory is rejected, the Jacksonville Electrical Authority would not be opposed to including Jacksonville Electrical Authority 002, employees with 002 employees of General Government or other agencies. The Jacksonville Electrical Authority, according to Mr. Petty would be opposed to including 006 employees with 002 employees or employees of other categories. Likewise, Tom Todd of the University Hospital, indicated that his agency would be opposed to including 016 employees in a unit of other categories of employees, but the Hospital Authority would not be opposed to including the hospital's 002 employees in a unit with other agencies which had 002 employees, providing that these employees were not determined to be managerial or confidential. The Jacksonville Port Authority, as represented by Clifford Mendoza, is opposed to having the exempt class of employees included in any unit with other employees either of the 002 category or any category presented by the Petitioner as being the proper category for inclusion in the unit.
The exhibits entered in the hearing in order of their presentation are as follows:
Hearing Officer's Exhibit #1, the Notice of Hearing; Hearing Officers Exhibit #2, the Petition; Employer's Exhibit #1, a computer printout on the names of 002 employees within the General Government and the Jacksonville Electrical Authority; Petitioner's Exhibit #1, a list of job titles in the 002 category; Petitioner's Exhibit #2, a list of job specifications for 002 category employees; Employer's Exhibit #2, the state charter on the Jacksonville Electric Authority; Employer's Exhibit #3, the exempt salary program for 006 employees; Petitioner's Exhibit #3, the job specifications relating to 006 employees; Petitioner's Exhibit #4, the job specifications for 016 employees at the University Hospital; Employer's' Exhibit #4, a computer printout on the names of the 006 employees within the Jacksonville Electrical Authority; Employer's Exhibit #5, a list of titles and names of personnel within the 002 and 016 categories of the University Hospital, to include those positions not filled and possible deletions; Petitioner's Exhibit #5, the job description of the Jacksonville Port Authority in the exempt pay category.
The parties stipulated that the City of Jacksonville is a public employer within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Chapter 447. The parties stipulated that the Petitioner is an employee organization within the meaning of Florida Statutes, Chapter 447. On the question of the required showing of interest of the Petitioner, the Public Employer brought out the disparity between the number set forth in the petition and the actual number of employees in the proposed unit. In considering the question of whether or not the employee organization is a properly registered organization with the Public Employees Relations Commission, the Public Employer again spoke of the disparity between the number set forth in the petition and the actual number of employees in the prospective unit. In addressing the questions of required showing of interest and proper registration with the Public Employees Relations Commission, the Petitioner asserted that it had complied with those two conditions.
No prior history of bargaining on the part of this proposed unit or employees was shown, nor was there any evidence of a contractual bar to bargaining.
In 1970, Article 27 of the Charter of the City of Jacksonville, created a class of employees within the consolidated government known as exempt employees. Specifically, this article created a pay plan for these employees and delineated these employees as being managerial and/or confidential. The original article is the basis for the existing exempt plans which pertain to 002, 006 and 016 and exempt employees under the Jacksonville Port Authority, subject to the modifications which have been enacted by the governing bodies of the General Government and the several independent agencies. In addition to this statement of Article 27, there is in existence within the Consolidated City of Jacksonville a Civil Service System. The Civil Service System establishes the method for grievance procedures, examination, employee promotion, and other conditions of employment. The exception to the application of the Civil Service System is the Jacksonville Port Authority. The Jacksonville Port Authority has not been a part of the Civil Service System since 1964, and only those employees who were employees prior to 1964 would be a part of the City of Jacksonville Civil Service System.
The Jacksonville Port Authority has its own system of handling matters of promotion and employee grievances. The personnel policy of the Jacksonville Port Authority is formulated by the Board of Directors of that Authority and they hire, fire and promote. However, the budget of the Port Authority is approved by the City Council, and central services, such as motor pool are available to this independent agency as well as the use of the city legal staff and purchasing. They are paid by separate checks drawn on the Port Authority account, and their pay plan is designed by the Board of Directors and not subject to any approval by the Personnel Director of the Consolidated City of Jacksonville. Petitioner's Exhibit #5, gives the job specifications of the exempt class employees within the Jacksonville Port Authority who are contemplated by this unit. These job specifications do not control the scope of the duties of these employees such that the employee could rely on them to describe the paramaters of his duty functions in terms of answering a disciplinary action for failing to perform the prescribed duties. This is a different circumstance from the other classes of employees discussed in this proposed unit, and is mentioned for that reason. Finally, this brief discussion of the Jacksonville Port Authority has been entered into at this juncture of the report because of the unique nature of some of the elements of the Jacksonville Port Authority.
Turning to the employees who work for the General Government, the Jacksonville Electrical Authority and University Hospital, as mentioned before these employees are subject to civil service. Consequently, the job specifications which pertain to the 002 employees, the 006 employees and the 016 employees, state the duties of the employee and in any grievance proceeding the employee would not be held accountable for functions outside the job specification statement. The exhibits on the job specifications are referenced in the section on exhibits in this report. These employees, to include the Jacksonville Port Authority, are involved in job assignments; discipline of subordinate employees in accordance with Civil Service Rules and Regulations and labor contracts in effect, and other controlling regulations of the independent agency; evaluation of employees, assessment of performance of probationary employees; formulation of policy which pertains to their given work area, as opposed to general policy for the overall government or independent agency; and participation in budget matters according to the job specifications or particular aptitude of the employee. The matter of budget preparation is one in which the exempt employees would not have the final authority on the acceptance
of the budget. The budget of the General Government, Jacksonville Electrical Authority and University Hospital is approved by the Jacksonville City Council.
Looking at the code classifications associated with certain of the employees associated with the proposed bargaining unit, the most numerous class is the 002 group. This group, as indicated before, is a common classification within the General Government, Jacksonville Electrical Authority and the University Hospital. The exempt salary plan for these personnel, sets out the general conditions of employment, health plan, workmens compensation, holidays, vacation and other matters. Control of these employees resides with the General Government, the Jacksonville Electrical Authority through its board of directors, and the Duval County Hospital Authority, through its board of directors. (It should be stated that the Duval County Hospital Authority has also been alluded to as the University Hospital in the course of this report.) The Petitioner's Exhibit #2, gives the job specifications for the code 002 employees. Specific reference to certain 002 employees is made in the testimony of Newby Kelt, Jack Petty, Tom Todd and Joe Hyatt. Apparently, from the testimony of the witnesses, there are certain job titles which are common to the General Government, Jacksonville Electrical Authority, and University Hospital, such that employees who have those common titles would be fulfilling essentially the same function in his given position within those three organizations. A final note concerns comment that has been made about the controlling governmental body for all the agencies involved in these proceedings with the exception of the General Government. The General Government employees are under the control of the Mayor and City Council for Jacksonville, Florida.
The next class of employees to be discussed is the 006 employees. These employees work for the Jacksonville Electric Authority and are under an exempt pay plan, with the same basic concept as the 002 plan. The 006 employee is involved in the production, distribution and sale of electric power. The pay plan is different than the 002 employees because of differences in numbers of step increases, scheme of payment, and method for determining compensation, in view of the type job function. There is little contact between the 006 and 002 employees within the Jacksonville Electrical Authority. Only 10 to 15 of the 002 employees work with the 006 employees. The 006 employee is primarily involved with line personnel, some of which are members of the international Brotherhood of Electrical Workers bargaining unit. In view of the contact with the I.B.E.W. employees, the exempt class employees in the 006 category who are identified as supervisors are held to the terms and conditions of the I.B.E.W. contract which has been agreed to with the Jacksonville Electrical Authority as employer. This involvement with I.B.E.W. contract would include grievance proceedings. According to the witness for the Jacksonville Electrical Authority, Mr. Jack Petty, the Public Employees Relations Commission has recognized the Jacksonville Electrical Authority as being the public employer in the I.B.E.W. contract mentioned above.
The University Hospital has a class of employees referred to as 016 employees. These employees are involved in the treatment of the patients who are in the hospital, and are under an exempt pay plan and as stated before, under the concept of Article 27. These employees are professional, technical and supervisory type employees. They are subject to the Civil Service System within the Consolidated City of Jacksonville, but are in the State of Florida Retirement System as opposed to the municipal retirement system that is utilized by the other employees discussed in the course of this report. According to Mr. Todd, the Director of Personnel Services, there is no interchange between the 002 employees and the 016 employees in terms of job function.
None of the employees which are discussed as possible employees to be included within the bargaining unit, have sat at the table for management in labor negotiations and other contract matters before the Commission. The extent of participation in those negotiations has been in the area of input to the negotiators themselves.
The exempt pay plan employees of the General Government, Jacksonville Electric Authority, University Hospital, and Jacksonville Port Authority are authorized to use the Consolidated City of Jacksonville Central Services, to include the Motor Pool, Central Purchasing and the City Attorney.
On the subject of managerial and/or confidential employees. A specific petition to have the Commission consider that area has not been filed; however, much of the testimony in this hearing concerns that subject, and the brief of the Public Employer suggests the resolution of that managerial and confidential question. Therefore, from the standpoint of the Hearing Officer I would perceive the testimony and brief as a petition for consideration of the managerial and confidential question.
All exhibit which were offered and accepted in the course of the hearing are made a part of this report.
DONE and ENTERED this 4th day of June, 1976, in Tallahassee, Florida.
CHARLES C. ADAMS, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings Room 101, Collins Building Tallahassee, Florida 32301
Curtis L. Mack, Chairman
