Weekly News From Your Union: March 4, 2016

Weekly News From VSEA!
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March 4, 2016

In This Issue:

Three Bargaining Teams Meet To Review Fact Finder’s Report!

Special Alert To Stewards From VSEA Labor Educator

VSEA Congratulates Member On Election To Selectboard

Rights & Democracy Hosting 3/9 Event To “Raise Up Vermont”

New VSEA Union Representative For Chittenden, Lamoille Valley and Waterbury

Recently Retired DEC Employee Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

Michigan Veterans’ Home & The Dangers Of Privatization

VSEA Insurance Representative In Middlebury Next Week

Winter/ Spring 2016 Training Schedule

Quote Of The Week!

Previously In Week In Action:

Headquarters Staff Update!

Important Reminder About Messages to the Legislature or the Public!

Joint Safety & Health Committee Posts “Complaint Form” To Gather Data From State Employees

Deadline To Submit Bylaw Changes Is March 25!

VSEA Signs Popping Up! Help Needed With Distribution

Post Your Sign Photos To VSEA’s Facebook Page!

Threatened While On The Job? VSEA Wants To Know.

VSEA Insurance Program Adds New Easy-Issue, Permanent Life Insurance Option

Delta Dental Supplemental Plan Enrollment Forms Mailing In April

 

VSEA Calendar
March 8
Board Of Trustees’ Meeting
Large Board Room
VSEA HQ
Montpelier
9:00 a.m

March 9
Steward Training: VVH
First Floor Community Room
Bennington State Office Building
200 Veterans Memorial Dr.
9:00 a.m.

March 10
Meet w/VSEA Insurance Rep. Joanne Woodcock
District Office
Vocational Rehabilitation Conference Room
Middlebury
12:00 to 3:00

March 10
Retirement Study Committee Meeting
VSEA HQ
Montpelier
1:00 p.m

March 11
NMU Executive Committee Meeting
Large Board Room
VSEA HQ
Montpelier
9:00 a.m

March 11
Chapter Presidents Committee Meeting
VSEA HQ
Montpelier
9:00 a.m

March 11
Meet w/VSEA Insurance Rep. Joanne Woodcock
District Office
Vocational Rehabilitation Conference Room
Middlebury
12:00 to 3:00

Quote of The Week!

"Democracy Spring is coming. This latest endorsement from the AFL-CIO and the enthusiastic public response to Democracy Spring demonstrates Americans’ deep frustration with a political system that no longer hears our voices. Democracy Spring will turn widespread frustration into a powerful force to reclaim government of, by, and for the people."

Kai Newkirk, lead organizer of Democracy Spring in a press release, announcing the national AFL-CIO’s support for the movement, whose primary goal is to get money out of politics and ensure fair elections. Supporters are marching from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., where they say they will conduct a sit-in at the U.S. Capitol.

 

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Headquarters Staff Update!

Here’s some recent staff additions and promotions for members to note:

  • Legislative Specialist Nancy Lynch (nlynch@vsea.org) was recently promoted to Legislative Director, and Tom Abdelnour (tabdelnour@vsea.org) was hired to be the new Legislative Specialist. VSEA is also pleased to welcome VSEA Legislative Intern Danielle Warner who is learning the ropes this session at the State House;
  • Vinnie O’Connor (voconnor@vsea.org) has been hired to be your union’s new Organizing Director, and he comes to VSEA with an impressive resume that incudes work with many unions, primarily in the west; and
  • VSEA administrative staff person Nikolas Stein (nstein@vsea.org) has been promoted to the position of Union Representative, and he will be serving members in the Chittenden, Lamoille Valley and Waterbury Chapters.
 

Important Reminder About Messages to the Legislature or the Public!

VSEA members are under attack, both at the bargaining table and in the Legislature, and members’ voices are the most powerful force we have. Members are already speaking out, particularly to legislators, so we need to remember some basic ground rules. Click here to view a memo that outlines some basic points about how to make sure your speech is protected. One of the key rules is this:

When you communicate with legislators, the media, or the public, make sure you are not on work time and don’t use the employer’s computer!

Nothing will undermine your message more effectively than the suspicion that you are using work time or the employer’s property for personal purposes. Electronic messages to lawmakers should originate from your personal email account and not from your state email account. The same goes for posting on websites or blogs. Send your messages from your personal email on break time, or pre- or post-work.

VSEA thanks all members for your attention to this request.
 

Joint Safety & Health Committee Posts “Complaint Form” To Gather Data From State Employees

For years, VSEA members and staff have served with management on a specially created Joint Safety and Health Committee, which meets periodically to discuss current safety and health issues impacting state employees, your worksites and/or the public. Committee members also strategize together about the best course of action to address a safety or health issue or concern, and they make recommendations to the State.

The Committee asked WIA to share that it has recently created a new downloadable “complaint” form for VSEA members to fill out and submit to the Committee if they are dealing with a safety or health issue and want to file an official complaint. The Committee will review all submitted forms at upcoming meetings to determine if action is warranted, and, if so, what kind of action is appropriate.

If you have any questions about the form, please contact VSEA’s staff liaison to the Committee, Field Services Director Gretchen Naylor. You can email her at gnaylor@vsea.org or call her at 223-5247.
 

Deadline To Submit Bylaw Changes Is March 25!

The deadline to submit proposals for changes to VSEA’s Master Bylaws is Friday, March 25, 2016. Proposals must be mailed to: Janis Henderson, Bylaws Committee Chair, c/o VSEA Headquarters, P.O. Box 518, Montpelier, VT 05601-0518.

Proposals should reference the number, section, sub-section, etc. of the bylaw you would like to change. You should also include the language you want to add, delete or substitute. Also include the reason(s) you are making this proposal. Example: “Bylaw 0 A (1) (b) Change: Monday to Sunday. Reason: Makes it easier to work with the calendar.”

Please be sure the changes you are recommending include all Articles and/or Bylaws that may be affected by the proposed change.

If you have questions, please contact Janis at jhenderson@vsea.org.
 

VSEA Signs Popping Up! Help Needed With Distribution.

VSEA recently began distributing yard signs to leaders, activists and members, asking them to distribute them to family, friends, neighbors and businesses in their local communities. The signs are timed to coincide with what has unfortunately become very tough bargaining with the State on new contracts covering VSEA members in the Non-Management, Corrections, Supervisory and Judiciary Units.

The next few weeks and months will be critical, as VSEA members in three Units await a fact-finder’s report, and Judiciary Unit members continue to combat seriously detrimental proposals. This is why VSEA is renewing its call to members to help your union with sign distribution, or post a sign in your own yard. Let’s give Vermont a strong visual show of support for state employees and the quality public services you provide. If you want a sign, but can’t make it to Montpelier, please contact vsea@vsea.org, write “I need a sign(s)” in the subject line, and VSEA will do its best to get your one or more in a timely fashion.

VSEA Chapter Presidents have developed a few simple talking points about the purpose of the signs, in case you need help explaining to a friend or business owner why state employees matter and why they should post a sign. They are:

  • Vermont state employees are primarily Vermonters;
  • Vermont state employees are your family, friends, neighbors;
  • Vermont state employees live in communities across our state, and the wages we negotiate for with the State go back into our local communities to help keep them economically vibrant;
  • Vermont state employees’ negotiated wages and benefits raise the standard for all working Vermonters;
  • For years, state employees have been asked to give back to help Vermont weather fiscal crises. Because of this, Vermont’s quality public services are stretched very thin today and there just aren’t enough employees in some areas to keep up with increased demand. State services and the workforce have been cut the marrow, not just the bone;
  • Since Vermont leaders have chosen to rely heavily a tourism economy and seasonal employees, it makes employment in state government that much more desirable and also one of the last, viable jobs in Vermont still paying a living wage with fair health and retirement benefits. These are the kinds of jobs Vermont needs to support;
  • By supporting state employees, you are supporting a continuation of the quality public services Vermonters have come to depend upon;
  • Vermont state employees make Vermont work; and
  • Supporting Vermont public services and state employees is truly “the Vermont way.”
 

Post Your Sign Photos To VSEA’s Facebook Page!

Please remember too, in the coming weeks and months, if you spot a VSEA yard sign, snap a photo and post it to VSEA’s Facebook page or send it VSEA Communications Director Doug Gibson at dgibson@vsea.org, and he’ll post it for you.
 

Threatened While On The Job? VSEA Wants To Know.

VSEA President Dave Bellini is asking all state employees who are threatened while performing your job duties to provide an account of the threat not only to your supervisor or the State, but also to VSEA.

“VSEA wants to begin to compile its own record of threats against frontline state employees, no matter your occupation,” explains Bellini. “I’m asking all employees who are threatened, especially those working in AHS, to take a few minutes to fill out an online form VSEA made to collect your report. The information will help us provide a firsthand account of the number of threats being made and where they are being made, in addition to some other things.”

If you are a state employee who is threatened on the job, please click here to find the online report form, which will remain confidential, unless otherwise approved by you.

 

VSEA On-The-Job Threat Report Form
 

Second In Series Of Messages From VSEA Insurance Administrator R.K. Tongue Co.

Note: A few weeks back, WIA published the first of a series of announcements from VSEA insurance administrator R.K. Tongue Co., informing VSEA members about an opportunity to purchase voluntary permanent life insurance through “the convenience of payroll deduction and easy online enrollment.” If you would like to read the first announcement again, please click here.

 

Do You Have Enough Life Insurance?

According to a recent LIMRA International survey, sixty-five percent of employees with group life believe they need more life insurance beyond what their employer provides.*

Enrolling now, PureLife-plus is affordable life insurance from Texas Life with the following features:

  • Permanent life insurance to age 121;
  • Easy qualification with only three work- & health-related questions;
  • Convenience of payroll deduction; and
  • All with coverage that you own and may take with your when you change jobs or retire. It’s yours to keep!

Enrollment Dates: 3/1/16 to 4/30/16

Click here to enroll

Login using your employee number in both the ID and password fields.

If you have any questions or need assistance with enrolling in coverage, please contact VSEA’s insurance administrator, R.K. Tongue Co., at (800) 638-6353 or email info@rktongue.com.

*Facts from LIMRA International, September 2015

PureLife-plus (PRFNG-NI-10) is an individual, flexible premium universal life insurance product. For details of coverage see the PureLife-plus brochure. PureLife-plus is underwritten by Texas Life Insurance Company, P.O. Box 830, Waco, TX, 76703; 1-800-283-9233 16M016-C (2) 1013 (exp0218)
 

Delta Dental Supplemental Plan Enrollment Forms Mailing In April

VSEA members wanting to join Delta Dental’s Supplemental Program should keep an eye open for new enrollment forms in mid-April 2016, when the forms will begin arriving in all eligible VSEA members’ home mailboxes. The deadline to return your enrollment form will be in mid-May. Premium deductions from employee paychecks will begin in early June. The Supplemental Program’s new contract year begins July 1, 2016, and ends June 20, 2017.

VSEA members who already belong to the Supplemental Program will not be required to re-enroll. VSEA members who wish to leave the Program will be able to do so, using the enrollment forms that are coming in the mail.
 

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Three Bargaining Teams Meet To Review Fact Finder’s Report!

After a weeks-long wait, VSEA and the State received a long-awaited fact finder’s report on Monday, and Labor Relations Director Gary Hoadley wasted no time scheduling meetings to discuss its contents with VSEA members sitting on the Non-Management, Corrections and Supervisory Bargaining Teams.

VSEA members will remember that the three Teams were forced in front of a fact finder, after State negotiators rejected what Team members called “fair” contract proposals and refused to budge from their “unfair” proposals.

On March 2, Hoadley met with the Corrections and Supervisory Teams to discuss what was in the report and solicit Team members’ input and direction for how to move forward. Hoadley is meeting the Non-Management Unit Team today.

Following the conclusion of today’s meeting, Hoadley says he will be reviewing all the input from the Teams and then sending a note to the State, asking its negotiators to re-convene bargaining, based on the contents of the fact finder’s report. If the State chooses not to return to the table, and, instead, opts to take the fact finder’s report to the Vermont Labor Relations Board, VSEA Teams will have to fight the battle there.

As always, if you have a question, please contact a member of your Unit Bargaining Team. Click here for a list.

Special Alert To Stewards From VSEA Labor Educator


Note: Be sure to read #3 and then click to sign up.

  1. Save the Date! Friday, May 20: VSEA Steward Summit Training.

    All Stewards are urged to attend this special, all-day training. VSEA officers and staff will join us to collectively explore ways to improve public services, strengthen our contracts, and build our Union. This event is being held in central Vermont and may include an overnight option for May 19. More information and registration details will be sent out in the next two weeks.

  2. Spring Trainings

    Click Here To Sign Up

    See WIA entry “Labor Educator’s Winter/Spring 2016 Training Schedule” for more information.

  3. Individual trainings/meetings at your worksite.

    I would like to hold one- to two-hour individualized trainings with you, depending on your availability. Stewards can sign up for a training by clicking below on whichever link is nearest your worksite, and then select a time and suggest a location to meet. I will follow up with an email to confirm and discuss logistics.

    Topics range from your experiences and worksite challenges to statewide issues and current VSEA campaigns.

    Burlington & St. Albans

    Newport & St. Johnsbury

    Morrisville & Waterbury

    Montpelier & Barre

    Rutland & Middlebury

    White River Junction & Springfield

    Bennington & Brattleboro

VSEA Congratulates Member On Election To Selectboard

VSEA is congratulating Council member and Steward Karen Tendrup on being elected to the Sandgate Selectboard on March 1. Tendrup works is an LPN at the Vermont Veterans’ Home in Bennington.

Rights & Democracy Hosting 3/9 Event To “Raise Up Vermont”

Rights & Democracy Vermont—an organization tackling issues of social and economic justice—is hosting a “Raise Up Vermont” press conference on Wednesday, March 9, and VSEA members are invited to attend.

“It’s past time for Vermont to take the steps necessary to shrink the wage gap between everyday, working Vermonters and those at the top of the earning scale,” Rights & Democracy Chairperson and VSEA Non-Management Unit Chair Michelle Salvador tells WIA in advance of March 9. “We’ll be at the State House next Wednesday to urge action on several pieces of legislation we believe will help level the playing field for working Vermonters. I hope VSEA members who are able will come to the press conference to support our message of economic justice for all.”

Rights & Democracy
“Raise Up Vermont” Press Conference
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
State House, Montpelier
 

Upcoming Trainings:

Vermont Veterans Home Stewards
Wednesday, March 9
First Floor Community Room, Bennington State Office Building (tentative location)
Bennington

Steward 2: Protecting The Contract & Building The Union
Wednesday, March 16
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

>> Register for trainings here!
 

New VSEA Union Representative For Chittenden, Lamoille Valley and Waterbury

VSEA is pleased to announce that newly hired Union Representative Nikolas Stein will be serving members in the Chittenden, Lamoille Valley and Waterbury Chapters. He officially began his duties on Monday, February 29. You may know Nikolas because, prior to becoming a Union Representative, he worked for years as an Administrative Professional at VSEA headquarters. Prior Union Representative Kelly Burns-Everhart was recently promoted to the position of Staff Attorney with the VSEA.

Nikolas says he is looking forward to meeting members in his territories and helping you with your issues and concerns.

Nikolas can be reached by email at nstein@vsea.org, or by phone at 223-5247.

Recently Retired DEC Employee Honored With Lifetime Achievement Award

At a recent New England Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conference in Boston, 30-year Department of Environmental Conservation engineer Andy Fish received the EPA Regional Wastewater “2015 Regional Lifetime Achievement Award.” The award recognizes personnel in the wastewater field who have provided invaluable public service managing and operating wastewater treatment facilities throughout New England.

At the conference, Curt Spalding, regional administrator of EPA’s New England Office, praised Fish’s service, saying, “The professionals operating these wastewater treatment plants, as well as the municipalities and the state environmental agencies that support them, are essential to keeping our environment healthy by protecting water quality. I am proud to acknowledge Mr. Fish’s outstanding contributions to help protect public health and water quality for so many years and to give him the credit he deserves.”
 

 

Michigan Veterans’ Home & The Dangers Of Privatization

When VSEA member and Vermont Veterans’ Home worker Barbara King spoke eloquently at State House about the importance of the service she and hundreds of her colleagues provide daily to Vermont veterans, she also warned against a rush to privatize this historically public service. Judging by a recent story out of Michigan, lawmakers would be wise to heed King’s advice.

A February 18 story in the Detroit Free Press reports that an audit about to be released on conditions at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans exposes numerous problems that occurred after nursing care was partially privatized in 2013, in an effort to save money.

According to the story, the audit says “the contractor the state hired to provide nursing aides, J2S Group, did not meet staffing requirements most of the time, during four sampled months, and mishandled prescription medication and complaints of neglect and abuse.”

In addition to the understaffing issue, the auditor found:

  • The Home did not track or properly investigate or respond to residents’ complaints, including complaints of abuse and neglect;
  • The Home did not properly administer non-narcotic prescription drugs, causing insurance reimbursement problems and potential quality of care issues. During the period the auditor reviewed, many prescriptions were refilled either late or five days early.
  • The Home also had not established adequate controls over non-narcotic pharmaceuticals, which were valued at $5.2 million over the 23-month review period, to ensure that they were not lost or misused; and
  • The Home did not bill residents’ insurance companies for all eligible prescription drugs and did not follow up with insurers when claims for prescription drugs were rejected. Those practices put at risk up to $883,700 in eligible insurance reimbursements over 23 months, the draft audit summary said.

After the audit was made public, Jeff Barnes, who had served as director of the Michigan Veteran Affairs Agency, resigned.

VSEA Insurance Representative In Middlebury Next Week


VSEA Insurance Representative Joanne Woodcock will be in Middlebury two days next week to talk with interested VSEA members about member-only insurance benefits.

March 10 & 11
Vocational Rehabilitation Conference Room
Middlebury
12:00 to 3:00

Receive information on disability coverage, family life insurance, family accident and cancer coverage. You must be a member paying full dues to be eligible for this VSEA benefit. If you are an agency-fee payer, Joanne can provide you information about signing up for full membership.

Winter/Spring 2016 Training Schedule

VSEA Labor Educator Tim Lenoch asked WIA to announce a new round of trainings he has scheduled for winter/spring 2016. If you are interested in registering to attend one or more trainings, you can do so by clicking here. Please direct your training questions to Tim at tlenoch@vsea.org.

Trainings in blue are for all members.

Vermont Veterans Home Stewards
Wednesday, March 9
First Floor Community Room, Bennington State Office Building (tentative location)
Bennington

Steward 2: Protecting The Contract & Building The Union
Wednesday, March 16
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The “Hostile Work Environment”
Wednesday, March 23
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward 3: The Contract & Challenges in the Workplace
Friday, March 25
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: Investigations & Working With Human Resources
Wednesday, March 30
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: Corrections Unit
Wednesday, April 6
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The Grievance
Wednesday, April 13
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The Labor/Management Committee
Friday, April 15
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Diversity & Solidarity For Public Sector Union Members
Friday, April 22
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

>> Register for trainings here!

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