5/14 Weekly Email + MOU Updates
Hi all,
I have a few updates this week about a home-buying assistance program, a free measles vaccination event, Employee Development summer classes, and our updated MOU.
I will be out of the office next week from Wednesday, May 20th through Wednesday, May 27th. If you need assistance with general concerns, please reach out to Vice President Brittainy Nelson via email (vicepresident@uaeatempe.com) or at the union phone number (480-719-9608). Resolutions Director Natalya should be contacted (resolutions@uaeatempe.com) if you need help with an investigation or disciplinary case.
First-time Homebuyer Program: Our Attorney, Kathryn Bailie, reached out this week and shared some information about Desert Financial Credit Union’s “Community Heroes” program. This program helps first responders, civil servants, and members of the medical community purchase homes by providing 100% of the purchase price up front with no down payment needed. I have no experience with this and cannot speak to the merits of the program but I would encourage people to compare the benefits it offers to those of other financing options if you’re in the market for housing. More information is in the attached flyer or at this link.
Measles Vaccination Event: Tempe is running a free measles vaccination event at Kiwanis Park from 1-4PM this Friday (tomorrow). Measles cases are rising in Arizona and this event provides free shots for adults and children. No appointment is needed to attend - more information can be found in the attached email.
Employee of the Quarter Reminders: Nominations for the Employee of the Quarter (Q3 2026) will be accepted until Monday, June 1st, 2026 (finalists will be announced in our July newsletter). If you would like to be considered (or would like to nominate a peer), please fill out the application (it takes 5 minutes) before the end of day on June 1st. If you would like a refresher on program rules, check out this blog post. One thing that’s important to the Executive Team is making sure we recognize employees from as many departments as possible - we have still not seen a lot of applicants from Water, Strategic Management, Financial Services, the Park Ranger team, the non-sworn side of PD, Sustainability, and a few other areas. While it’s not the only consideration, you have a better chance of recognition if your nomination is for someone in an area we haven’t acknowledged yet.
Employee Development Summer Programs: I’ve attached an email from Employee Development discussing some summer classes and resources. If you’re interested in career advancement with Tempe there are some interesting classes coming up, including one on July 8th that covers interview prep tips.
MOU Updates: The UAEA Negotiation team believes we have reached the end of negotiations and I have attached a copy of our proposed MOU language for members to review. This was a particularly tough year for negotiations due to budgetary constraints but we believe we have obtained some new language that will greatly assist members in matters of pay, discipline, and use of their benefits. I have attached a brief summary of the changes below but I would encourage people to take a look at the full document, even just to brush up on your membership rights. Please note that the proposed edits will not show up if you open the file in Outlook - you’ll need to download the file to see the full set of changes.
As a reminder, any changes to the MOU need to be ratified by membership prior to them taking effect - the board would like to do a vote on these changes the week of May 25th so they can be sent to City Council, voted on, and take effect in July.
Summary of Changes:
Section 1-1-6: Tempe agrees to deduct FHL hours for UAEA from employee leave banks
This converts the City’s UB Guidelines to a contractual obligation. It prevents Tempe from simply stopping the practice at any point, which is something that occurred in other cities after the 2024 Arizona Supreme Court Gifts Clause issue (and caused a major blow to their associations). It also prevents them from modifying the process without our input. Our intention here is to continue to solidify our protections and make it very difficult for outside entities to further harm our ability to provide services to our members.
Section 1-1-15: UAEA has the ability to reserve City spaces and use City services like Microsoft Teams to conduct business.
The UAEA board is trying to keep operational costs as low as possible. This codifies our ability to use Tempe spaces without paying rental fees.
Section 1-2: Clarifies existing language surrounding layoffs to ensure the use and importance of seniority.
The old MOU language had a degree of ambiguity about how Tempe could lay off people and whether seniority was the primary consideration. This makes it the only consideration.
Section 1-2: Adds additional protections for employees when job reclassifications change their job duties or qualifications.
Tempe may occasionally need to reclassify roles due to organizational or technological changes. UAEA will support members in those roles and attempt to grandfather them in, but in cases that isn’t an option, this gives them options for a smooth transition.
Section 1-4: Adds significantly more guidelines and protections for employees in the disciplinary process.
There are some very big changes here that should greatly enhance the fairness of the disciplinary process.
This changes existing language from employees “may request” a representative be present with them at disciplinary or counseling meetings to “employees have a right to representation” at these meetings, something that prevents departments from blocking our attendance.
This gives employees an automatic extension to respond to a discipline when a discipline is issued right before they have pre-scheduled leave.
This limits investigations to 120 days, when they formerly could take an unlimited amount of time.
This gives employees the explicit right to record investigation interviews.
This allows employees and UAEA to request additional documentation for their Part 2 response, above and beyond what has been provided by the City (and Departments must comply with all reasonable requests). This has been a big barrier in the past
This allows UAEA to bring legal counsel to any meeting where the City has legal counsel present.
Section 2-3-4: Requires Grievance responses to be rendered in writing
Section 3-1-1: Codifies the new market salary step structure into our contract
This prevents the City from making arbitrary changes to pay or structure. As a City policy only management would have near-limitless ability to make further changes without employee input. This also guarantees employees receive a 3.5-4.3% increase in salary each year if they are not topped out, depending on where they are in the step structure - our former contract only guaranteed 3.5%. You can find a complete list of salary steps here.
Section 3-1-3: Codifies future market adjustments into our contract, gives UAEA additional opportunities to address study design concerns, and lets us highlight roles that need closer attention in future studies.
Again, this prevents the City from making arbitrary changes and creates a predictable salary structure for all staff. This also codifies the 2027 and 2029 market study dates where pay ranges may be adjusted based off of market movement.
Section 3-1-5: Increases bilingual pay to $60/month for occasional interactions and $150/month for frequent interactions
Section 3-1-6: Changes policy so that employees can be paid both shift differential and holiday pay when the two overlap.
Employees did not receive differential pay during holidays for several years due a policy change - this restores the old status quo.
Section 3-1-7: Changes policy so that employees in workgroups may propose changes to standby procedures
Section 3-1-7: Changes policy so that departments can open standby opportunities to employees from other workgroups.
This change does not require or incentivize departments to do this, it just adds it as another option. Multiple standby groups around Tempe have expressed concerns about being overworked - this gives departments more options to relieve that pressure. UAEA is aware that this will solve some problems and may potentially create new ones - please keep us in the loop about any concerns with this implementation.
Section 3-4-2: Changes reclassification policy to align with supplemental budgetary requests in the Fall of each year.
This gives UAEA an annual opportunity to bring attention to staff that may need to be reclassified, at a time that all departments are submitting additional budget requests. Conversations about reclasses can occur throughout the year, this is just the formal period for tweaks.
Section 4-2-1: Changes Cesar Chavez Day holiday to Farmworkers Day.
Section 4-3-1: Changes policy to allow departments/workgroups to let employees use vacation time for unexpected emergencies.
Employees occasionally face unexpected emergencies like a broken AC, flat tires, or sick pets. Before now departments have provided inconsistent support to staff so they can be paid for 40 hours that week - some have allowed employees to flex their schedules, some have allowed them to use sick leave if there were medical aspects, and some have forced employees to go without pay for the time period they were not working. Those options still exist, but this also allows them to let employees use vacation time to cover emergency situations. To prevent abuse, departments may request documentation of the emergency. UAEA will provide education to all departments this summer of this change.
Section 4-8: Changes policy to allow employees on unpaid administrative leave to use accrued vacation or compensatory time
This will prevent employees from going without pay for potentially months - this has been a real situation that has impacted employees in the last 2 years and one we will be able to avoid moving forward.
Section 5-2: Changes policy to require departments to schedule mandatory training around pre-approved leave
Section 5-5: Increases uniform and tool allowances for covered employees.
General uniforms - $180/year (from $150/year)
Tool Allowance - $600/year (from $500/year)
Public Safety Uniforms - $1080/year (from $900/year)
Section 5-5: Changes policy so that any changes to uniform standards in workgroups must coincide with the uniform allowances being issued.
Section 6-4-1: Adds additional protection for tuition reimbursement
If any other employee group in Tempe negotiates a higher reimbursement rate, UAEA-covered employees will also get the same amount.
Section 6-6: Increases Mediflex amount.
Now $733.92/year (from $639.12)
Term & Effect: Allows UAEA to re-open our MOU any year between now and the expiration of the contract to discuss benefits and conditions if “internal or external circumstances have changed to require discussion or modification.
This essentially says we have the opportunity to re-open if economic or internal work conditions change significantly, positively or negatively.
I want to add one last thought before I conclude this section. The UAEA Negotiation team fought tooth and nail for everything you see here and dozens of other items that we brought to the table this session. We did not (and never do) get everything that we wanted to in this round, but we did manage to obtain promises to discuss multiple items outside of our formal contract negotiations (since some benefits may impact all staff, not just our group). Those were not empty promises - we have already started several conversations with the 6-Sided Partnership about what new benefits like additional childcare support might look like. We are working on additional disciplinary reforms we’d like to see and are finalizing a joint request with TSA to modify the Personnel Rules - similar projects are being worked on for tweaks to hiring and retention. Finally, we also have, for the first time ever, obtained financial information about the costs of some of our requests, something which gives us a significant advantage when making and prioritizing proposals down the road. We are keeping a close eye on the City’s finances and will continue to make recommendations down the road - please understand that we will always be fighting for greater benefits and protections, whether we’re in formal contract negotiations or not.
Member Highlights: UAEA would like to highlight more of our members in future newsletters and are looking to find a few people we can interview about their daily work and time with Tempe. We’d like to show off the variety of jobs that are done around Tempe, as well as inform Tempe about the skills needed to be successful in different areas. If you’d like to be highlighted in a future edition of our newsletter, please reach out to president@uaeatempe.com.
Insurance Open Enrollment: Open Enrollment for Insurance and FSA donations is now available through your Peoplesoft portal. This year is passive enrollment - if you have no changes to make (coverage amounts, dependents, marital status, etc), you do not need to do anything. That said, it may be worth checking your account just to make sure you are aware of what you are paying for - you can do this between May 4th and May 22nd. When you login to your Peoplesoft Account you will see the “Benefits Open Enrollment” tab in the bottom right. Click on it to start the process.
Donation Incentive Program: I’m pleased to announce that UAEA’s Board is starting a Floating Holiday Leave (FHL) Donation Incentive Program. The Board wants to provide an extra perk to employees who donate their FHL hours to support our work, and will start doing an annual drawing for multiple $100 giftcards. The drawing will start with 10x$100 giftcards, and more will be added to the pot if more hours are donated. Winners can select the form their giftcard will take - if we can purchase locally, they can request it. All mandatory FHL donations already made by members will count as entries (including any donations members made in July 2025) and members and non-members can get additional entries if they donate additional hours above the mandatory level. If anyone would like additional entries, we will be accepting additional donations from now until May 21st, then will do a drawing at our July Board meeting. For a full list of rules and how the drawing will work, please check out this link.
If you would like to donate some FHL time for additional entries (one extra entry per hour), please fill out this form at this link. If you have any questions about this process, please feel free to reach out to president@uaeatempe.com.
HSA/FSA Deadlines: Just as a reminder, employees have until June 30th, 2026 to use funds from their FSA and HSA accounts. You can carry up to $680 from one plan year to another, but you will lose any additional funds in your account above that amount.
Crafts Contest: Our Quarter 2 Crafts competition is now open and will be accepting entries until Thursday, May 21st. This contest does not require you to create anything new - we simply want to see the best/most-interesting hand-made crafts that members or their children have made. Prizes will be awarded to the top crafts in each of three categories and additional prizes will be distributed if a certain number of people enter in each category. The board will also let members vote on their favorites if we receive more than a few entries. A full list of contest rules are available to review on our blog and members can enter pictures of their crafts at this link.
Next Member Meeting: Our next membership meeting will be on Wednesday, May 20th, from 12-1PM at the JGM Water Treatment Plant. You can rsvp here until tonight at 5PM. Please note that the parking for the JGM Plant is a little hard to find if you haven’t been there before. Please reference the attached photo or the instructions on our Events Page if you need directions. Please also note that this will take place on a Wednesday, not a Thursday as usual.
Crafts Contest: Our Quarter 2 Crafts competition is now open and will be accepting entries until Thursday, May 21st. This contest does not require you to create anything new - we simply want to see the best/most-interesting hand-made crafts that members or their children have made. Prizes will be awarded to the top crafts in each of three categories and additional prizes will be distributed if a certain number of people enter in each category. The board will also let members vote on their favorites if we receive more than a few entries. A full list of contest rules are available to review on our blog and members can enter pictures of their crafts at this link.
Community Resources: UAEA is aware of rising fuel prices and how this is impacting members. We are having some internal city discussions about possible workplace changes, but also wanted to post some resources for members who may be struggling to make ends meet. This is a similar list to what we posted in November with a few new additions. Please feel to reach out if you have additional recommendations about local resources.
AZ Food Bank Network: This link contains information about dozens of food banks and assistance sites across Arizona. You can search by the directory and the zipcodes they provide services for to find food banks in your areas.
AZ Medical and Nutrition Assistance: This is an Arizona-State run program that can help connect people with Arizona State programs that provide assistance for people who need medical coverage, WIC support, or additional access to nutrition. I do not know all that the program entails.
Maricopa County Utility Support: This is a Maricopa County program that can help people receive assistance paying for utilities. Some cities have unique offerings while others are covered under one umbrella program.
AZ 211: This is a Arizona-State run help line that can help people connect with a variety of resources and support they may be unaware of in their area.
Tempe Employee Relief Fund: This is a Tempe-run program (paid for by employee donations) that can provide support of up to $1,200 to assist Tempe employees with unplanned emergency bills (housing, mortgage, utilities, etc).
Employee Assistance Program: If you have insurance through the City of Tempe, you can take advantage of the EAP, a group of resources which can provide free therapy, legal consultations, or classes on stress management.
Cheap Recipe Guides: These are two free cookbooks designed for cooking high-nutrition and easy meals on a budget. Even if you’re not a fan of the recipes, there are some good tips on stocking a kitchen with affordable and long-lasting staples.
Free Transit Pass: This contains information on how to obtain your free bus, streetcar, and lightrail pass as a Tempe employee.
Thanks for a great week, everyone!