AFSCME Contract - MMB Home - Minnesota Management & Budget

Proposal for Transportation Specialist Series Classification
Specifications and Position Posting Templates Project
June 25, 2007
Project Description: Create Transportation Specialist Series (TSS) Classification Specifications,
Position Qualified standards, and Position Posting Templates. This will comply with Article 3 –
Position Qualified, of the Mn/DOT Supplemental Agreement with AFSCME.
Background: In 1999, the department consolidated the Highway Technician, Highway
Maintenance Worker and Bridge worker classifications into a single classification series called
Transportation Specialist Series (TSS). The purpose was to provide maximum flexibility in the
utilization of employees in this series across various work areas. Since that time a number of other
job classifications (i.e.; Labor Trades and Equipment) have been consolidated into the TSS Series.
The implementation of TSS required agreements between labor and management to address the
unique concerns of this series. The Mn/DOT supplement of the AFSCME Council 5 contract
provides documentation of these agreements as an addition to the master agreement. The
supplement covers areas such as: TSS review committee, seniority, position qualified, and hours
of work (including the winter maintenance schedule).
Article 3 of the Mn/DOT supplement provides a description of a new requirement called position
qualified. Position qualified states that an employee must meet the required qualifications for the
specific position/vacancy to be considered for the position/vacancy in the TSS or to exercise layoff
options or recall rights to any position in the TSS. It was also established in this article, that
qualifications would be based on work elements identified by the Department.
Position qualified was a significant change in that it provided the Department the ability to: create
unique positions that had not been utilized previously; and to determine the required qualifications
for employees who desired to obtain the position. Under the new process, employees who desired
even a lateral transfer found that they must be position qualified and could be selected or turned
down for a position based on this factor. Prior to this time, employees had been able to lateral
transfer based on holding the same classification and seniority in the class.
The position requirements are documented in the position description as well as on the position
posting which is created and distributed by each district or office when filling a vacancy. Position
postings for similar positions often list dissimilar position requirements, reflecting the unique and
diverse hiring philosophies of each work area.
To streamline the posting of positions, as well as to create standards for greater consistencies in
position requirements, a focused effort will be made to create classification specifications,
standardized position qualifications and postings for TSS positions.
Project Deliverables:
1) Classification specifications and standardized position qualifications will be created for all levels
of TSS classifications except Transportation Associate. The classification specifications will
document:
Nature of the work (which includes a description of how one level of the class differs from
the next level of the class)
Essential functions
Knowledge, skills and abilities
2013-2015 AFSCME Contract – Page 335