DNR Meet and Confer Update 2023 Accomplishments and 2024 Goals

Publish Date

February 14, 2024

Committees

DNR

Happy New Year!

The DNR Meet and Confer team is excited to provide MAPE members with an update on its accomplishments in 2023 and share what we will be addressing with management in 2024. Our work centers around advocating for employees on issues that affect a group of people and are outside of existing contract rights. Our work continues to ensure that all MAPE employees at the DNR are informed of their rights and benefits. We have posted meeting minutes on the MAPE website. Click on the Minutes tab to view them.

Accomplishments in 2023

Three-year process to improve our relationship with management yields results.

In the spring of 2022, our team started a process with CMO and HR utilizing an agreed-upon outside consultant called Conflict Resolution Center (CRC). We went through a series of four separate meetings where we shared what was important to us about the Meet and Confer process and participated in exercises focused on listening to each other. We feel these sessions were instrumental in improving our relationship with management and achieving the results listed below.

Wildland fire

With the support and hard work from members across the state, Meet and Confer leaders won significant changes for employees within the Division of Forestry and other DNR employees who fight wildfires.

Wildfire Rest and Recuperation Day(s)

After an out-of-state wildfire assignment, employees are required to take a day off to rest. In many instances, the sponsoring agency will provide the State reimbursement for the employee’s wages for that safety day; however, employees were not able to receive those paid Rest and Recuperation days after being out on wildfire assignments and instead had to use vacation or sick time to stay in payroll status to preserve overtime they had earned while on assignment.

The Meet and Confer Team initiated conversations with HR and Division of Forestry management, pressed forward to meeting with MMB, and succeeded in securing a Memorandum of Understanding signed on August 19, 2023. The MOU and identical language in the DNR supplemental contract language have won workers paid Rest and Recuperation day(s) on their scheduled workday after returning from a 14-day or 21-day out-of-state assignment consistent with Division policy. This has been a very long-term effort for the Meet and Confer team, starting long before the current team was assembled.

Wildfire Shift Differential Clarification

Some MAPE members shared with us that supervisors and managers had different interpretations of the shift differential language in Article 24, section 11 of our contract. In the past, supervisors/managers asserted that this did not apply to people on certain fire assignments, which is incorrect. We worked with HR to clarify where the shift differential applies. If an employee is assigned a shift that starts before 6 am or after 7 pm, they can receive sixty-five cents ($0.65) per hour for all hours worked on that shift. If you worked assigned shifts that would meet the shift differential requirement, please contact HR to adjust your payroll.

On-call Pay

After initiating conversations with HR and the Division of Forestry management and meeting with MMB, the Meet and Confer team successfully negotiated supplemental language that removed the 16-hour cap for on-call pay for DNR employees. Previously staff were only getting paid for 16 hours of on-call but were often expected to answer their phone for the full 24 hours. The Meet and Confer team’s persistence also resulted in a revision of the Division of Forestry wildfire on-call policy to expand and clarify approved on-call time frames according to expected duties and other conditions. Please contact your local steward if you need guidance or support with getting paid for on-call hours.

Wildland Fire Boots

Employees with wildland fire responsibilities have long been required to wear boots meeting specific requirements while performing fire suppression duties. The Meet and Confer team organized with members and fought for a change in policy regarding reimbursement for this PPE requirement. The team’s persistence resulted in a full evaluation of the DNR’s safety footwear policy. Fire boots are now recognized as specialized PPE provided by the employer. View the updated policy. And a recording about the new policy. This has been a very long-term effort for the Meet and Confer team, starting long before the current team was assembled.

A note about member involvement in the above wildland fire topics

The Division of Forestry and other DNR employees with wildland fire responsibilities actively participated in MAPE-sponsored listening sessions and signed a petition. Over 80 percent of those who most actively work on wildland fire signed, providing 200 total signatures from our bargaining unit, which demonstrated support for this work. The petition was delivered to the commissioner’s office and provided a clear message that there were issues to address related to wildland fire. We also ultimately escalated the issues to MMB and the Governor’s staff. The final major contributor was direct involvement by a forester with wildland fire fighting experience joining our team. It was invaluable having a staff member with experience who was able to speak directly to management about all of the issues we were working to address. We plan to use this same model for future issues.

Length of Service Credit

The MAPE contract, Article 10, Section 2. Accruals, allows for a length of service credit that allows people who are hired into state service to be granted length of service credit up to the total number of years of previous work related to the employee’s current State position. Prior contract language stated “At the discretion of the Appointing Authority, employees who are hired into State service from another public sector employer, including the United States Armed Forces, or from a private sector employer in a position directly related to the employee’s current State position, and who were in a vacation eligible position with that employer may be granted length of service credit in an amount up to the length of time employed by the previous employer.” This year MAPE negotiators were able to remove the vacation-eligible language, meaning employees can claim years of previously related work that were not vacation eligible. DNR Management has had a five-year cap on any vacation accrual regardless of the contract changes. This is allowed under their Appointing Authority discretion stated in the contract. HR is currently working on revising this practice. MAPE’s meet and confer team has pushed to have this cap lifted. We are expecting updated guidance from DNR management on this in early 2024.

Look for a Petition

Look for a public petition in a separate email specifically to urge DNR management to implement the changes from the 2023-2025 contract on the length of service credit for vacation accrual immediately as well as making the policy as expansive as the contract language allows. We need an overwhelming majority of everyone in the MAPE bargaining unit to sign this petition as quickly as possible to show management how important this is to us!

Advanced Implementation of Telework Appeal Policy

DNR was one of the first adopters of an appeals process that allows staff to voice their concerns about telework status changes or eligibility. MAPE was asked to provide feedback on the policy and has continued to bring forward telework concerns and experiences felt by staff since 2020.

Work in Progress

Park Naturalists Concerns

Began discussions about ongoing concerns of hostile work environments and lack of support for park naturalists staff. This work is still in the early stages.

Performance review process

There’s a theme of lack of accountability and reasonable metrics for improvement and documentation for the reasoning behind why supervisors check the “needs improvement” boxes. The MAPE meet and confer team is working with HR on performance review processes and guidance.

Communication classification study

Asked for updates on the process, expect an update from management at our next meeting in January

Topics mutually highlighted by MAPE and Management

Over the past few years, there have been some topics that have come up repeatedly as concerns identified by staff and shared with management during the meet and confer process. We are seeing that management is listening to these concerns and several of them are being addressed by the new Organizational Health team. Three examples can be found below:

Workplace Support for Nursing mothers and new parents
Recent employee wellbeing seminars are providing much information we have been seeking to be added to the intranet or updated on the intranet
MAPE requested a department-wide DEI assessment in 2021. A DNR-wide assessment will be launched this year.
While MAPE is not taking credit for addressing these topics in this way, we would like to think that our persistence has helped raise their profile and get them the attention they deserve.

Goals for 2024

Length of Service Credit-Removal of Credit Limit

While MAPE negotiators were able to remove the vacation-eligible restriction on Length of Service Credit, the DNR still has a 5-year cap, meaning only 5 years of related work qualify for the length of service credit. Other agencies across the state do not have this cap, although it varies across agencies. Some agencies have no cap, and others have a more liberal cap than DNR, e.g., 10 or 15 years. Additionally, almost all agencies have updated their policy to match the new contract language. DNR Human Resources is working on updates to their policy.

We will soon be asking employees to sign a petition asking to remove all caps and provide an expansive length of service credit both as a recruitment and retention strategy. We believe employees should get credit for all previously related work.

Update on Hours of Work for Purposes of Overtime

During the 2023-25 bargaining negotiations, MAPE was unsuccessful at the main table, as well as at DNR supplemental negotiations, to secure all hours coded to count as hours of work for overtime purposes for non-exempt employees. MMA was able to secure all hours coded to count as hours of work for OT Purposes. MAPE will be looking to secure an MOU with management for the same type of agreement. We plan to continue to push for a win that all hours coded while in active wildland fire, planning stages count as hours worked for the purposes of OT. MMA’s most recent contract should help drive the conversation as well as continued involvement and standing together in a public manner as a union!

Workplace Well-being

The Meet and Confer team is beginning meaningful conversations with DNR management on ways to address supervisor/manager issues in the workplace. We’d like to take a supportive approach for employees who experience stressful situations with supervisors or fellow employees that can be resolved more informally rather than the options employees have at present.
The team is working with management on methods to provide feedback on supervisory leadership and skills. Currently, there is no formal way for feedback from the MAPE level to reach their supervisor’s manager or their manager's manager, so there is no way to correctly evaluate a supervisor's management of staff other than basing it solely on team or program results.

MAPE would like a way for staff to collectively raise their hands and tell HR and their division management that there are problems with supervisors or managers before they reach a more serious or repeated pattern of behaviors. This could serve as an early notification process to train more well-rounded supervisors who are better equipped to support staff.