Negotiating a Collective Bargaining Agreement A Case Study in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Negotiating a Collective Bargaining Agreement – A Case Study in Management Engagement

Donna O’Dowd Deputy Director, Division of Workforce Compliance Office of Human Capital Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Objectives

• How to engage your managers when negotiating a Master Labor

Agreement/Collective Bargaining Agreement

• Gathering data
• Applying data and manager input into proposals
• Collaboration during negotiations
• What happens once negotiations are complete

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Management Negotiating Team

• CMS completed negotiation of its current Master Labor Agreement

(MLA) in June 2017, with a July 7, 2017, effective date

• Started preparation for negotiations in June 2016, with selection of

Chief Negotiator and Management Negotiating Team (MNT)

• Since 2010, CMS has selected a senior–level manager as its Chief

Negotiator

• MNT includes a labor relations expert, but remaining members are

managers, including a Regional Office representative

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Initial Steps

• Notified managers of upcoming negotiations and selection of MNT,

with emphasis on collaboration and inclusion

• Assigned ER/LR Specialist to each Article for review and input
• Sent Articles to business owners/subject matter experts and met with

them prior to and throughout negotiations for suggested changes

• Set up an email resource mailbox to receive input from managers
• Established shared drive for MNT to store all documents
• Held individual meetings with senior leaders of each CMS component,

including Regional Office leadership

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Collaboration

• Established a Management Advisory Group (MAG) with

representatives from each component – approximately 25 members

• Met prior to negotiations to seek input on proposals
• Met monthly to provide status of negotiations and solicit input
• Instrumental in obtaining feedback from managers when needed quickly
• Attended monthly meetings with managers and other stakeholders
• Set up bi-weekly meetings with CMS’ Deputy Chief Operating Officer,

Collective Bargaining Official, and Labor Relations Officer

• Scope of bargaining
• Reviewed strategy and proposals
• Discussed Union wants

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Data Collection

• All Manager Survey
• Developed questions on managers’ major interests
• Official Time for Union Representatives
• Reviewed number of overall and per representative hours over 3 year period
• Telework
• Number of employees on episodic, scheduled, medical, and fulltime telework
• Grievances and Arbitration Decisions
• Topic and number of grievances, and arbitration decisions
• Performance Ratings & Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs)
• PMAPs by component and rating, and number of PIPs
• Flexible Schedules
• Number of employees on 8, 9, and 10-hour schedules

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Data Collection

• Overtime and Credit Hours
• Number of overtime and credit hours over 3 year period
• EEO and Harassment Complaints
• Number of complaints and types of claims
• Administrative Leave
• Number of hours given, including during inclement weather
• Space Costs – Cube Sharing
• Number of vacant cubicles, projected hiring numbers, costs, etc.
• Employee Viewpoint Survey
• Areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction

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Meeting with Managers Prior to Negotiations

• Face-to-face meetings with each component
• Meetings were very well attended
• Had pre-arranged questions on topics of interest to managers
• Telework programs (episodic, scheduled, and fulltime)
• Tours of duty and core days
• Credit hours
• Use of technology
• Broke into small groups to discuss questions
• Each group reported on areas of consensus and disagreement
• Tracked responses and any additional input provided

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All Manager Survey

• Used Wufoo
• 32 questions – Mostly “Yes”/”No” with comments allowed for each
• Some questions had numerical answers, e.g., telework, core days,

performance ratings

• Questions broken into 5 areas:
• Hours of Work
• Core Days
• Performance Ratings
• Flexiplace and Fulltime Telework
• Use of Technology

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All Manager Survey

• Approximately 25% managers responded
• Majority (60%) were first-line managers
• Even though majority of questions were “yes/no,” almost 90 pages of

comments from managers

• Used data to develop management’s proposals and make

recommendations to senior leaders

• Senior leadership used data to make decisions on scope of bargaining

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Interpreting Data

• WuFoo provided percentage of managers for/against each topic
• Helpful in making recommendations to senior leaders and determining scope
• f bargaining
• Grouped comments by category and Article
• Majority of issues were evenly divided, e.g., more/less telework,

keep/do away with core days, earning credit hours on weekends

• Were some anomalies
• Use of technology
• Earning credit hours at home
• Allowing for employee hardships

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Collaboration During Negotiations

• Consulted with Management Advisory Group
• Attended monthly All Manager Meetings to provide updates and seek input
• Met with Deputy Chief Operating Officer, Collective Bargaining Official, and

Labor Relations Officer on bi-weekly basis

• Input received from Executive Officers/Business Operations Staff and

through email resource box

• Consulted with Subject Matter Experts
• Travel Office
• HR Office (staffing and classification)
• Health & Safety Officer
• EEO Office
• Office of Information Technology

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After Negotiations

• Developed roll-out plan
• During Agency-Head Review, worked with contractor to prepare

crosswalk of changes and training for managers

• On effective date of MLA, sent detailed email to managers with

changes

• Chief and Union sent joint email to employees with overview of major

changes

• Met with subject matter experts to review changes to each Article
• Trained ER/LR staff on changes

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Manager Training

• Conducted 15 manager training sessions
• Traveled to 10 Regional Offices for in-person training
• Tracked attendance through Learning Management System
• Used all available technologies, including video conferencing, WebEx,

and Lync

• Recommend videotaping training session for those who can’t attend

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After Negotiations

• ER/LR staff updated documents on Intranet and managers’ pages
• Put together FAQs by Article
• Updated Standard Operating Procedure for Term Negotiations
• A - Z of negotiating a term agreement, including sample documents
• Budget considerations that must take place years prior to negotiations
• Selecting a Chief Negotiator and MNT
• Sample Statement of Work for contractual services
• Space and equipment needs, including IT equipment
• Outreach and information gathering
• Proposal development and negotiations
• Roll-out of new MLA

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Key Takeaways

• Collaboration and engagement with your managers = best
• pportunity for success
• Ensure your MLA meets the needs of your Agency and its managers
• Managers should be valued, heard, and seen as partners in the

process

• Managers play a key role in administering your MLA
• Essential to receive manager buy-in
• MLA roll-out and manager training is as important as the actual

negotiations

• Managers must know how to interpret and implement changes

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Resources

• For additional information please visit:
• HR Clinic Website

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Contact Information

• Donna O’Dowd
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid

Services

• donna.odowd@cms.hhs.gov
• 410-786-3173

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