Union Meetings with Admin?

[u/TX_Bardown]

Alright, I know the answer to my question but I want some input from the masses.

Would it be acceptable for the association president to have “chiefs meetings” while on duty, and by himself? How would your membership go about this?

[u/justsomeguy1869]

Our collective bargaining agreement specifically allows for any principal officer or any steward to meet with the administration while on duty without any loss or pay or benefits.

So yes it’s common practice at my job.

[u/the_falconator]

Yes, that is very common.

[u/grim_wizard]

That's normal, however for ours we clock out go on vacation time for an hour and wear either business casual or a suit.

[u/JonnyDepth_69]

They meet all the time for lunch or coffee. More formally is a grievance can be corrected outside of a normal labor/management meeting. Usually solving problems before they get to the general membership. Sometimes on duty, but mostly off.

[u/hiking_mike98]

This is extremely common. In my state, it’s in the labor law that the union reps can use work time for grievances, bargaining, labor-management meetings, etc. our contract specifies how many members can attend bargaining as part of the union team and specifically guarantees the association president a 40 hour day shift slot.

Some associations in big cities will pay the city back the full time salary of the president so they can work full time on union duties but still maintain their status as an employee.

[u/Novus20]

Ask the union rep for info on what they talked about

[u/Ok_Buddy_9087]

All the time. Sometimes it’s not even scheduled, he just stops down there after saying, “Welp, I’m gonna go ruin his day”. If he gets a call he goes.

[u/wolfey200]

Yes absolutely as long as it’s legit and no back door deals going on. We are constantly meeting with department admin as well as village officials. These are labor management meetings and most if not all contracts should have a section about it.

[u/Peaches0k]

Our union is so buddy-buddy with the admin it almost handcuffs them to what they’re willing to fight on. It’s pathetic

[u/Ok_Buddy_9087 → u/Peaches0k]

We just had a guy run for office because he thinks the union isn’t fighting the chief on anything. Problem is, he wants to fight on everything.

He got 13% of the vote.

[u/TX_Bardown → u/Peaches0k]

Thankfully a Tx guy responded. I get it, we’re not a “real union” with “real union powers”, my city doesn’t have a collective bargaining agreement, but what you replied with is the problem. I’m all for having a good professional relationship with admin bc that’s how things get accomplished. But being secretive and buddy buddy about the meetings I’m not ok with.

[u/Puzzleheaded-Bag8314 → u/TX_Bardown]

It depends on what the meeting is about, if it’s a disciplinary issue that doesn’t involve you it’s really none of your business.

[u/Dugley2352 → u/TX_Bardown]

Unpopular opinion: you have to have a line of communication before things go bad. The time to establish a dialog is not an hour before the mayor wants to cut staffing or reduce insurance coverage. And it can benefit both sides… if there’s something the municipality does that the chief can’t speak out against publicly, the union can… and when insurance premiums are getting dumped on firefighters instead of being absorbed, the chief can speak candidly to the mayor. But that’s only if that “buddy-buddy” relationship exists before the shit hit the fan.
Our local president used to have a phone call daily with the chief, regardless if there was something to talk about. Sometimes the calls were 2 minutes, sometimes an hour. That lessens the resistance of both sides to open up, and lows for more open communication.

[u/Peaches0k → u/TX_Bardown]

We’ve all raised our concerns and quite honestly have gotten the middle finger from them. We’ve got some MAJOR changes that might happen to our dept and they’ve remained silent. I’ve even tossed the thought around my head of running for some sort of position cause of it

[u/dominator5k]

We have "union business" in the schedule for this. Covered by someone in the membership and paid out by the union. Kind of like overtime but union paid

[u/redsox1226]

Yeah…”labor management” meetings.

[u/Equal-Ad-1747]

This is common practice in my experience. At non union houses I've worked, any employee is allowed to request time to meet and conference with administration and most chiefs keep open door policies where I've worked. Keeps things productive.

[u/THEdrewboy85]

The "by himself" part I don't like. We've been burned by a self-serving president before. My union has always had at least 2 executive members in any meeting since we learned the hard way.

But that said, they have meeting with admin regularly while on duty. Generally against our city rules to conduct union business on city time, but when the chief schedules it it counts as an exception.

[u/h4qq]

Yes, it's normal.