Our fight to fully fund the Pay Act isn’t over, but today your union made significant progress.
This afternoon, the House Appropriations Committee adopted a plan to fully fund Year 1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreements for the Executive, State’s Attorneys and Judicial Units. This means members of these bargaining units should receive (if finally adopted by the full Legislature and signed by the Governor) the negotiated $1400 lump sum, plus steps in Year 1.
The Legislature’s plan reads that it will take up the issue of funding Year 2 of the Executive, State’s Attorneys, and Judicial Unit contracts at a later date. This could be in the fall, or it could be this coming winter when the new Legislature convenes in January 2021. Either way, your union will continue to fight for full funding of the negotiated contract.
The plan, as adopted today in committee, is being considered by the full House of Representatives and the Senate this week, prior to their July Break.
The First-Quarter Budget that will include this Pay Act language also fully funds the state employee retirement plan for Fiscal Year ’21.
I would like to thank the members who took a few minutes to reach out to their elected officials. We will certainly be asking that you do this again and that you pay close attention to candidates for the State House on the campaign trail this fall. Make sure they know what this contract means to you and your family.
Steve Howard
VSEA Executive Director
What Is The Pay Act?
Full newsletter here!
This Week:
Don’t Let Up! Send Those Pay Act Emails & Make Those Pay Act Calls!
State Agrees To Extend COVID-19 Agreement Thru July 4
VSEA Stewards Invited To Connect Via Zoom
VSEA Council Member Named Northern State Employee Of The Month
VSEA Dispatcher Comes Through In The Clutch!
Picket With The Brattleboro Retreat Workers! VSEA Brattleboro Chapter Joining!
Fish For Free Tomorrow Across Vermont
Quote Of The Week!
Colorado State Workers Win Right To Collectively Bargain
COVID-19 Crisis Is Renewing Non-Union Workers’ Interest In Joining A Union
Hundreds Of Frontline Health Care Workers Have Lost Their Lives, Battling COVID-19
Help Spread The Word! View, Print, And Post A Condensed Version Of This Week’s Issue! (Opens/ downloads a PDF)
VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard sent an email to VSEA members and retirees, urging each to immediately send an email or place a call now to their House and Senate members with the message:
“Fully Fund The Pay Act! Support Frontline State Employees.”
Please join VSEA members and retirees in calling for full funding of the Pay Act.
Find Your Legislators Here.
The Pay Act is legislation that must be passed biennially to fund state employees’ negotiated wage increases with the State of Vermont. Many of these are the employees who have been working tirelessly on the frontlines in the fight to protect Vermonters’ health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Other employees are continuing to aid Vermonters in need from their homes; many while juggling the same child, parental, or other care responsibilities as any Vermonter. And still, others continue to report to work daily in our state’s 24/7 facilities, like prisons or the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital or Veterans Home.
Additional talking points:
Governor Scott supported a wage increase in the agreement he signed with VSEA Executive Branch Bargaining Teams in December 2019;
This Pay Act saves Vermont an estimated $10 million a year for the foreseeable future;
State employees in the lowest pay grades benefit most from this particular Pay Act;
This Pay Act reduces the impact on the State’s unfunded liabilities;
This is the first Pay Act negotiated collaboratively at the table in the past six years;
This Pay Act funds the first contract ever for prosecutors and staff in Vermont’s State’s Attorneys Offices, after an eight-year fight to secure unit bargaining rights.
Important! After you make contact with your lawmaker(s), please let VSEA know the result of your conversation by responding to this short, two-question form.
Thanks in advance for your help.
VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard emailed members belonging to the union’s Executive Branch Units (Non-Management, Corrections & Supervisory) this afternoon to let them know that the Scott Administration has agreed to extend the COVID-19 side-letter agreement that provides enhanced wages, benefits and protections to state employees on Vermont’s frontlines, battling COVID-19, providing critical testing and aiding Vermonters in need during the pandemic.
This is very welcome news, because, as of last Friday the Administration was not agreeable to an extension, even after repeated requests to extend from VSEA Bargaining Teams, leaders and staff.
The COVID-19 agreement was also extended to Vermont Judiciary Branch employees.
More: COVID-19 Leave Agreement Extended Until July 4
This Week:
VSEA Labor Relations Director’s Update On Status Of COVID-19 Agreement
Pay Act Clears First Hurdle In Legislative Process
VSEA 2020 Scholarship Winners!
Two Reports Issued On Funding Required For Continued VSC Operation
Testing Finds No New Cases Of COVID-19 In Vermont’s Prisons–Staff Or Inmates
Contract Extension Ballots Out To State Colleges’ Unit Members
Class-Action RFR Requests Due To VSEA By July 1!
Quote Of The Week!
New “Purchasing Power” Benefit Offered To VSEA Members
AFSCME Burlington City Workers Stage Picket
EPI Issues Bleak Jobs Forecast If States Don’t Receive Federal Funding
North Carolina Nurses Prepare For Historic Vote To Unionize
Read The Full Newsletter Here!
View, Print, And Post A Condensed Version Of This Week’s Issue!
(Opens/ downloads a PDF)
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