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Association presses district to enshrine uninterrupted breaks, higher call‑back pay and minimum remote-call compensation
Summary
Union negotiators proposed requiring 15-minute breaks for each 3-hour work segment, treating monitored breaks as paid time, raising call-back pay to a three-hour overtime minimum and guaranteeing one hour at overtime pay for off‑shift remote contacts.
Association negotiators presented a set of changes to Article 6 of the collective bargaining agreement aimed at strengthening rest-break protections and compensation for off‑shift work.
The association’s lead negotiator said the contract should require “each employee shall receive a 15‑minute break for each segment of 3 hours or major portion thereof” and that breaks be scheduled “as close as practical to the middle of the work segment.” The proposal also adds a recommended scheduling chart and requires employees be given schedules before their workday begins.
The association argued that employees who are required to monitor radios or other communications during a meal or break must be paid for that time. “If that’s the case, then those people need to be given a full paid lunch and they need all those 15‑minute breaks tacked on at the end of their workday,” the association representative said, urging a district commitment that radios not be used in lieu of uninterrupted breaks.
On call‑back pay the association proposed increasing the minimum paid time when an employee is called back after leaving work from two hours to three hours, and paying that time at the overtime rate. The negotiator framed the request as compensation for travel and inconvenience, noting some employees travel 45 minutes or more each way.
The union also asked for clearer compensation when employees are contacted outside scheduled hours for work that can be completed remotely: employees who volunteer for an intermittent remote list would be guaranteed a minimum of one hour of work at the overtime rate for each such call, even if they have not reached 40 hours that week.
The association representative characterized the package as correcting current practices that “take advantage” of employees who are frequently asked to return to work or to monitor communications during breaks. District negotiators acknowledged the proposals and said they would review and present counter language in later sessions.
Next steps: the proposals were handed to the district and will be considered in follow‑up bargaining sessions; no formal action or vote occurred at the meeting.
