DMV Heat Team Wins Protections Against Unreasonable Schedules

Notification

When the DMV unilaterally proposed new operating hours at more than 100 offices with a short notice and no discussion with our union over the impacts of such a change—a hard-earned right granted in our contract—members came together to ensure reasonable working conditions for all DMV employees. 

DMV wants to open offices an hour early, at 7 a.m. to help alleviate long wait times caused by a high demand for REAL ID, the new form of driver license that complies with federally-established minimum standards for government-issued IDs. 

Starting Oct. 1, 2020, Californians without a REAL ID will be unable to board domestic flights or enter federal buildings and military bases. It’s possible that DMV will process as many as 20 million applications by the Oct. 1, 2020, deadline. 

On Aug. 1, the Local 1000 DMV Heat Team met with representatives of the DMV to continue negotiations over the implementation of REAL ID and the significant impacts on our members’ lives caused by a workday that would start an hour earlier. 

“The DMV Heat Team is a group of 15 member leaders working in DMV offices across the state,” said 15-year Heat Team member DeLeon Secrest, who works in the San Pedro DMV office and is president of DLC 724. “Our Heat Team leaders represent the interests of their coworkers and engage them to build better worksites.” 

In the Aug. 1 meeting, the Heat Team secured the following commitments from DMV: to pull back the expansion of the 7 a.m. start time to more than 100 offices that was scheduled to take place on Aug. 9, 2018; to provide a full 30 days’ notice for changes in the work week so the union can meet with the state to discuss the impact of any changes; and that all employees who volunteer or are mandated to do overtime on Saturdays will have their mileage reimbursed in accordance with Section 12.1 of our contract. 

The DMV Heat Team will meet with the department every six weeks to discuss emerging issues with customer wait times, resources, security and other topics related to REAL ID. These meetings are slated to continue until Dec. 2019. 

“Over the years, the DMV Heat Team has developed trust and a productive working relationship with management. When DMV wanted hundreds of our members to report an hour earlier to work, we knew we needed to go to the table and make our members’ voices heard” said Tom Krieger, a member of the DMV Heat Team and the Unit 4 Bargaining Team. “By standing together, our members are now involved in working with DMV to create innovative solutions to reduce wait times while respecting the lives of the workers we represent.” 

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