By TMSA President Chris Haefner
The story may have changed slightly over the years, but those who were in attendance still remember the day.
Tom Sather was General Manager of Metropolitan Council Transit Operations (MCTO) in 1994. That same year, Governor Arne Carlson and the State Legislature dissolved the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) and moved public transit for the greater metropolitan region under the Metropolitan Council. For over a year the Council had been trying to get the managers and supervisors to organize as a union. The managers and supervisors did not have a desire to organize. After all, they were a group of professional supervisors and managers and felt they did not need the support of a union.
Mr. Sather organized a leader’s workshop that included all MCTO supervisors and managers. Mr. Sather told the assembly that they should take a good look at the person next to them. He said that half of those present were terrible at their jobs and the person next to them would be fired. The next day he walked into the office of Steve Jaeger, who was at the time FTH’s Bus Transportation Manager, and asked Steve, “Do you think they will organize now?” Steve replied that they certainly would.
MCTO supervisors and managers began the process of organizing. The first thing that was considered was joining the Metropolitan Council Management Association (MANA). MANA represented the managers and supervisors from Regional Administration and Environmental Services. However, MANA decided that the businesses were too different and that MCTO managers and supervisors should organize their own group. MANA donated 150 hours of attorney’s time to help TMSA organize and negotiate the first contract in 1996.
The first TMSA Board included Georgia Stinson (President), Scott Berg (Secretary-Treasurer), Amy Gudmestad (Support Staff), Curtis Hinds (Bus Maintenance), and Edward Smith (Bus Transportation). The first TMSA contract was ratified in October 1996 and ran through September 1997. Since that time the TMSA and Metropolitan Council have successfully reached bargaining agreements 10 times.
In 2004 the TMSA Board grew from the original five Board members to seven. A representative for Rail Operations was brought onto the Board. Because this created an even number of Board members, the TMSA attorney recommended that it create a Vice President position. Doing so would keep the Board at an odd number of representatives and alleviate the possibility of a Board stalled in tied votes. The first representative for Rail was Sheri Gingerich. The first TMSA Vice President was Jeff Wostrel.
Some Major Milestones
There are several events that have been driven by the TMSA Board.
2001 – Annual Leave and Salary Continuance
Prior to October 2001, TMSA members accrued vacation leave and sick leave much the same way as ATU employees. Sick leave was accrued and then carried over until one accrued the maximum allowed. Vacation leave was awarded each year at a rate of 12 days per year. The employee could only accrue 30 days of vacation time. If the employee accrued more than the 30 days, it was lost, and had to be used by the end of the year. For most employees, that meant by the end of five years, you could never accrue more vacation time. With the 2001 contract, TMSA members moved to our current Annual Leave process, which allows members to accumulate Annual Leave at a much more accelerated pace.
Additionally, by switching the Annual Leave process, the TMSA also garnered Salary Continuance. This became the equivalent of a self-funded short-term disability plan. TMSA members who ratified the 2001 bargaining agreement paid for salary continuance rights by converting three sick days into one annual leave day. They gave up two-thirds of their sick pay so that we all can participate in salary continuance which guarantees up to 12 weeks of paid time off if you are ill or injured.
2008 – Overtime Pay for Non-Exempt Employees
When the original TMSA contract was signed, it was agreed that all TMSA members were exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). In 2008, after a significant push and threat of action in front of the Department of Labor, the Council finally acknowledged that TMSA supervisors without direct reports should be considered non-exempt under the FLSA. This entitled them to overtime pay for any time worked during the week over 40 hours. Members were paid back pay for the year prior to the agreement for overtime not paid.
The TMSA was able to negotiate that non-exempt clause further by getting a workday clause for those employees. Normally, non-exempt employees are not entitled to OT pay until after they have “worked” 40 hours in a work week. However, the TMSA was able to convince the employer that time worked in excess of the normal picked/scheduled workday counts is paid at time-and-a-half. Per the FLSA, “hours worked” does not include vacation, sick, annual leave, compensation time, floating holiday, or holiday pay. It is only the time you spend at work doing work.
Three years later, in the next contract, the employer agreed to the TMSA contract proposal that “hours worked” would be extended to include regular and floating holidays. As per the FLSA, time off during the week does not count as “time worked.” Therefore, if you took a holiday off and then covered an open shift later in the week, that open shift was paid at straight time. Due to the work of the TMSA Board, that loophole was removed. The TMSA Board continues to push the employer to acknowledge that annual leave and compensatory time should be recognized as “time worked.” However, as of this writing, the employer has refused to budge.
2011 – Adjustment To and Movement Through the Pay Grid
It took until almost the middle of 2012 to resolve the 2011 through 2013 contract. The reason for this delay was the work the TMSA Board did to get our members equal pay compared to our counterparts in Environmental Services and Regional Administration. Prior to 2011, TMSA pay grids were $5000 to $8000 less than the MANA pay ranges of the same pay grade. Additionally, TMSA members were paid less (about $5000) compared to their counterparts at MANA. Also, between 2005 and 2009, MANA received 3.53% general wage increase while TMSA received 2.01% general wage increase.
The other problem being experienced by TMSA members at the time that employees were reaching the “midpoint/step 9” in three years and then they would stay at about 1% over the midpoint/step 9 for the rest of their careers. TMSA members who had been supervisors and managers for 20 years were making the same amount as members who had been here four years.
Our current pay structure was created to address this issue. It was not easy and the TMSA had to make some concessions to make it all work, but in the end, it produced the pay structure we have today. It is by no means perfect, but it is significantly better than we had in 2010. Now, an employee who meets expectations can move through the performance zone. It takes about 28 years to reach it if you score meets expectations every year, but you can. That was something that never happened before. If you score surpasses expectations or better (which 75% of our members do) then you will reach the pay grade maximum in 8 to 13 years after reaching step 9. Additionally, since 2011, our pay ranges have been comparable, if not identical to MANA. They no longer get significantly more pay than our members.