A. City Hall East Attorney Office Space
Shelley Smith reported that Office Management
informed her that the proposed architectural plan for the relocation
in City Hall East provided that non-supervisorial attorneys would
be assigned only 120 square feet of office space. To fit into
120 square feet, attorneys might have to accept smaller "modular"
furniture, and would have to place file cabinets outside of their
offices. In addition, there would be only one small kitchen area
to serve all four floors.
Shelley spoke at a meeting of the Municipal
Facilities Committee, consisting of the Mayor’s Chief of
Staff Tim McOsker, C.A.O. Bill Fujioka, and C.L.A. Ron Deaton.
Shelley explained to the Committee that a 120 square foot office
would prevent most of the attorneys from effectively performing
their duties. She also informed them that the reduction in size
would constitute a material change in working conditions, and
that if the plans were not modified, the Association would demand
to meet and confer on the issue.
At the Committee’s instructions, Board
members met with City engineers and City Attorney Management during
the next week to negotiate changes to the architectural plans.
As a result, almost all of the non-supervisorial attorneys remaining
in City Hall East will have a 150 square foot window office, and
each of the four floors assigned to the Office will have a kitchen
area.
B. Results of Informal Discussions with
Management
Terree Bowers rescheduled the monthly informal
discussions between management and the Board for Friday, May 24.
C. Discussion of Employee Workload
Concern was expressed regarding management’s
insistence that, in the absence of volunteers, matters formerly
assigned to an attorney handling police employment appellate matters
would be assigned to Association members. Two principal concerns
were expressed by members:
1. Elimination of Firewall between Confidential
and Non-Confidential Units
Appeals arising from police employment section
cases are considered work to be performed by attorneys in the
confidential unit, and thus the work should not be assigned
to persons not in a confidential bargaining unit. By assigning
confidential matters to persons not in a confidential unit,
the Office would be disregarding the "firewall" between
confidential and non-confidential work.
2. Potential Meet and Confer Issue
A concern was also expressed that the
Police Employment Litigation Section may lack sufficient resources
to absorb the work formerly performed by the appellate attorney,
and thus the Office would seek to have it performed by attorneys
assigned to other divisions. While it was acknowledged that
management may have the right to determine the Office’s
organizational structure, under established case law it must
meet and confer when its decisions materially affect employees’
workload.
D. Affiliation with Larger Union
Charlie Mims, President of the Los Angeles
Professional Management’s Association ("LAPMA"),
spoke about his union’s decision to affiliate with SEIU,
Local 347. LAPMA consists of all management personnel in the City
other than general managers, but including assistant general managers.
In the mid-1990's, LAPMA decided that they
would have more influence with Council and other City leaders
if they were to affiliate with a larger union. It seemed obvious
to LAPMA members that elected officials listened to people in
affiliated unions more than people in smaller, less powerful,
unions. LAPMA appointed a committee to conduct a search and make
a recommendation regarding union affiliation.
The Committee members interviewed representatives
of all interested unions, and ultimately recommended affiliation
with SEIU, Local 347. The reasons for the recommendation included
the following: SEIU was the largest union in the City; it had
a democratic style of leadership; it had a strong history of effective
business managers; it had a long history of exercising power in
the City; and it had a demonstrated ability to make correct political
decisions. In February of 1998, LAPMA voted to affiliate with
SEIU.
Charlie Mims expressed satisfaction with LAPMA’s
decision to affiliate with SEIU. Since the affiliation, in addition
to placement of a LAPMA member on SEIU’s Board of Directors,
a LAPMA member was also elected President of SEIU’s Board
of Trustees.
E. Management’s Core Work Hours Proposal
Members reported that City Attorney Management
had enunciated a "core hours" initiative which was announced
at a Managing Assistants’ meeting. In substance, the policy
would provide that absent a supervisor’s authorization, attorneys
are expected to be in the Office daily during the hours of 10:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Subsequent to that meeting, Terree Bowers gave
Shelley Smith a draft proposal at a meet and confer meeting.
Some stated that as drafted, the proposal
does not appear to be a significant departure from previous Office
practice, which has always allowed supervisors to authorize a
flexible work schedule. Others expressed concern, however, that
the proposal may represent a significant departure from previous
Office practice and an attempted reversal of employee rights regarding
"flex time" already secured -- and recently reaffirmed
-- at the bargaining table. In particular, there was concern expressed
that management might instruct supervisors to deny requests to
work a flexible schedule, and that the proposal might represent
an attempt to deny attorneys the right to use accumulated comp
time.
At the least, some stated, management’s
interest in fashioning a policy whereby all attorneys are expected
to be at their desks between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00
p.m. might reveal a lack of trust in current supervisors to competently
and honorably manage the attorneys under their charge, and might
further communicate a distrust of all attorneys working in the
Office
Shelley Smith indicated that the Board would
be taking all this feedback into consideration when meeting and
conferring in response to management’s proposal.
F. Membership Attendance at Sponsored Events
The Board regularly authorizes the purchase
of tickets to fundraisers and other events where it determines
that attendance would further the Association’s interests.
There are occasions when tickets are available for Association
members. Currently, the Association does not have a consistent
procedure in place to notify members when these opportunities
become available. It was agreed that the Board Secretary, Judith
Reel, will maintain a list of all Association members who are
interested in attending these event.
Members who would like to attend sponsored
events when tickets are available should notify Judith Reel, and
indicate if the member has a particular interest in a certain
type of event (e.g., criminal law events), or events pertaining
to a specific official or area (e.g., events pertaining to the
Harbor district). She will compile a list and notify members from
that list when tickets are available.
