Brothers & Sisters:
At the annual meeting of the Laborers' Local 261 City Committee On December 10, 2008, it was decided unanimously to pressure and encourage the Department of Human Resources, to administer an examination for purposes of hiring permanent civil service gardeners as well as ranking members of Local 261 who currently perform those duties as provisional employees in "permanent budgeted spots."
The Professional Standards Chair and Union Chief Steward, Joan Vellutini made the motion and given the Union's current position with respect to apprenticeship (The Assistant Gardener 3410,) and professional standards, all provisional gardeners should be given the opportunity for ranking and future permanent employment and/or re-hire rights.
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December 22, 2008
ReplyDeleteMicki Callahan, Director, SF Department of Human Resources
Martin Gran, Employee Relations Division
Department of Human Resources
City and County of San Francisco
44 Gough Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
Re: CCSF & LIUNA, Local 261 Provisional Employee’s Status/Examination Request
Dear Ms Callahan and Mr. Gran:
At our annual meeting on December 10, 2008, the City Committee through our Professional Standards/Apprenticeship sub-committee asked that I urge the Department of Human Resources and other City Departments to expedite an examination for the 3417 Gardeners specifically.
This unique request is related in part to the fact that the Laborers’ Union members have been advocating for sometime for the re-introduction of the 3410 Assistant Gardener to be applied similarly to the 7501 Laborer Apprentice at SFDPW in an effort to increase the professional standards of the classification. There have been several meetings that have taken place (some in your office,) but the wheels at DHR have turned painfully slowly despite advocacy from the Union, the Department of Public Works, the SF Recreation and Parks Department, the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, the Parks Trust, the Neighborhood Parks Council, and many others.
Now, in order to avoid a situation similar to that of late 2004, when the appointment of the Apprentice class at SFDPW appeared to have displaced provisional workers, we urgently need an examination to be scheduled and administered for these individuals so that they may be listed, ranked accordingly, have re-hire rights, and so that we can move forward with our jointly administered apprenticeship program for Gardeners at the Recreation and Parks Department.
I request that your office either centrally, or through a departmentally administered position based examination begin taking the necessary steps toward achieving this goal. As always, you may contact me by cellular telephone to discuss (415) 810-4500.
Regards,
Vince Courtney
City Representative
Cc Local 261 City Committee
Mary Hao, Labor Relations Manager, SFDHR
Rhonda Simmons, Director, Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development
Jared Blumenfeld, Interim General Manager, SFRPD
Ed Reiskin, Director, SFDPW
Mohammed Nuru, Deputy Director, SFDPW
All:
ReplyDeleteThe Local Union will correct/amend its current position with respect to the 3417 "testing" communication sent recently. The Local 261 City Committee has lobbied only for a City-wide Civil Service examination to be administered.
Please be advised that there will be no other official action undertaken by our organization on the matter unless the 261 City Committee formally sets that course.
With questions please call.
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Vince Courtney
City Representative/Political Captain
Laborers' International Union, Local 261
3271 18th Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 810-4500
(415) 826-4550 office
(415) 826-1948 fax
vince@liuna261.org
Union representatives Vellutini and Mixon to meet with DHR representatives to discuss City plan to administer City-wide examination process for 3417 gardeners.
ReplyDelete