STATE OF FLORIDA

DIVISION OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS

LABORERS' INTERNATIONAL UNION OF ) NORTH AMERICA, LOCAL #1240, ) AFL-CIO, )

)

Petitioner, )

)

vs. ) CASE NO. 76-414

) PERC NO. 8H-RC-763-0009

CITY OF FORT MEADE, )

)

Public Employer. )

)

RECOMMENDED ORDER

Pursuant to notice, a public hearing was held before Diane D. Tremor, Hearing Officer with the Division of Administrative Hearings, at the Fort Meade City Hall on May 12, 1976, commencing at 10:30 A.M.

APPEARANCES

For Petitioner: Mr. Stanley E. Marable

Frank and Meyer, P.A.

500 Flagship Bank Building Tampa, Florida 33602

For Public Employer: Mr. Harrison C. Thompson, Jr.

Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, P.A.

Post Office Box 3324 Tampa, Florida 33601

INTRODUCTION

By a representation petition, the Laborers' International Union of North America, Local #1240 (Petitioner) seeks a certificate of representation as the exclusive bargaining agent for certain employees of the City of Ft. Meade. The original RC petition described the unit claimed to be appropriate as including all employees in the City's sanitation, sewer and water departments, excluding all supervisory, managerial, confidential and clerical employees of such departments. At the hearing, petitioner was permitted to amend its petition with respect to what it claims to be an appropriate unit. As amended, petitioner seeks to include all employees, excluding superintendents, of the following departments: streets and parks, sanitation, water and sewer, electrical, and gas. To be excluded along with the superintendents, according to petitioner's amended petition, would be the office manager and her staff of nine employees, the library director and her staff of two assistants, six radio dispatchers, as well as the police and fire departments and all those on the first block of the organizational chart which was prepared by the City Manager and admitted into evidence as Exhibit 5. This first block consists of the City

Commission, the Planning and Zoning Board, the Zoning Board of Adjustment, the City Judge, the City Manager and the City Attorney.

The parties agreed that the City Manager, office manager and superintendents of the five departments listed above were managerial employees and that the library director was a professional employee within the meaning of the Public Employees Relations Act. It was stipulated that these jobs require and involve the formulation and administration of policy and budgetary matters; that such employees would participate in employee relations and collective bargaining; and that the duties of these employees are not routine or ministerial in nature.

The City moved to dismiss the petition, as amended, on the ground that the unit described was not appropriate. The motion was denied for the purposes of the hearing, but is referred to the Public Employees Relation Commission for final action.

The parties stipulated that the City of Ft. Meade is a public employer and that the Petitioner is an employee organization within the meaning of F.S. ss447.203(2) and (10). It was stipulated that the petitioner requested recognition as the bargaining agent from the City and that there is no contractual bar to holding an election. The City knew of no prior bargaining history. Based upon PERC's affidavits of compliance, admitted into evidence as Exhibits 3 and 4, the City stipulated that petitioner is properly registered with PERC and has filed the requisite showing of interest.

The dispute in this case centers around three classes of employees - the staff of the office manager department, the six radio dispatchers and the two library assistants. The City contends that an appropriate unit would include these employees as they participate in the same benefits and share a community of interest with all other included city employees. The City expressed its concern with a nonproliferation of bargaining units for a city of this small size. The petitioner, while expressing its willingness to go to an election with any unit deemed appropriate by the Commission, would like to exclude the library assistants, the radio dispatchers and the nine staff members of the office manager department. Petitioner contends that the library assistants are professional employees and that the office manager's staff are confidential.

The radio dispatchers, contends petitioner, are so intermersed with the police department that they have no community of interest with the other employees sought.

The only witness presented at the hearing was Mr. Everett Howe, the City Manager of Ft. Meade. Neither a list of job descriptions nor the pay classification plan were offered into evidence at the hearing.

FINDINGS OF FACT

Upon consideration of the relevant oral and documentary evidence, the following facts are found with regard to the issues in dispute.

1. Overall organization. Exhibit No. 5, prepared by the City Manager, is an organizational chart of employees of the City. Excluding the first block of employees under the city commission, the office manager, library director, the police department chief and uniformed officers, the fire department (which consists of volunteers only) and the superintendents of the remaining five departments, there are approximately fifty-two employees of the City. The City Manager is the chief administrative officer of the City, and all employees are

   ultimately responsible to him. There is a uniform pay grade classification plan throughout the City and all full time employees work a forty hour week, though their actual working schedules may differ. There are two pay schedules. Most employees are paid weekly, though some, including the office manager department, are paid biweekly. Employees receive their pay checks either at the City Hall or the city warehouse, whichever is closer to their place of employment. If an employee desires to wear a uniform, the City pays one-half of the cost of such uniform.

   
   

2. Office manager department staff. There are nine staff members of the office manager department who are hired and fired by the office manager. The basic function of this department is finance and accounting, and the employees do basically clerical type work.. Typical responsibilities of this department include preparation of the payroll, collection of utility bills, payment of bills for purchase and supplies, and record-keeping. Eight staff members work in City Hall and one works at the city warehouse. These employees share the same hours and fringe benefits -- vacations, sick leave policy, group hospitalization, retirement plan -- as other city employees, and are paid every other week.

   
   

3. The office manager herself does the City Manager's confidential work. Another secretary of this department devotes approximately twenty-five percent of her time doing typing or other work for the City Manager. No college degree or other specialized training is required for a position within the office manager department. All office manager staff employees have access to city personnel records, as does everyone else who inquires. It was not known whether or not such employees would have access to labor relations policy data, inasmuch as the City has no prior bargaining history.

   
   

4. Library assistants. There are two library assistants, one full time and one part time, under the direct supervision of the library director. The full time assistant works a forty hour week and participates in the same benefits as other full time city employees. The library is open a half day on Saturday. The old library building has been torn down and a new library building is planned. During the interim, one assistant is detailed to do clerical work in the city warehouse. The City Manager testified that there is presently no job description for library assistants, but that there is no educational or previous training requirement for the positions. Their duties include assisting the public and the library director. It was not known whether they actually and independently participated in the ordering of new books for the library.

   
   

5. Radio dispatchers. There are six radio dispatchers who are housed in the police station and are under the direct supervision of the Chief of Police, who hires, fires and disciplines them. These employees share the same benefits and work the same number of hours as other city employees. They rotate their schedules so that one dispatcher is always on duty, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. All emergency calls, including police, fire and general government utility calls, are relayed through a radio dispatcher. Standard operating procedures are furnished them by the superintendents of the various departments. Dispatchers do not wear uniforms and do not carry weapons. There is no formal training requirement to qualify as a dispatcher, though apparently they must be federally registered in much the same manner as a CB operator. There is no ranking system among them and no head or chief dispatcher. While there is a jail at the police station, dispatchers have no contact with or authority over prisoners housed therein. The City Manager knew of no dispatcher duties other than receiving and relaying emergency calls.

6. In accordance with F.S. s447.307(3)(a) and F.A.C. Rule 8H-3.23, no recommendations are submitted.

Done and entered this 2nd day of June, 1976, in Tallahassee, Florida.

DIANE D. TREMOR, Hearing Officer Division of Administrative Hearings Room 530, Carlton Building Tallahassee, Florida 32304

(904) 488-9675

COPIES FURNISHED:

Mr. Curtis Mack, Chairman

Public Employees Relations Commission 2003 Apalachee Parkway

Suite 300 Tallahassee, Florida

Mr. Stanley E. Marable Frank and Meyer, P.A.

500 Flagship Bank Building Tampa, Florida 33602

Mr. Harrison C. Thompson, Jr.

Shackleford, Farrior, Stallings & Evans, P.A.

P.O. Box 3324

Tampa, Florida 33601

Docket for Case No: 76-000414

Orders for Case No: 76-000414