Risk Management Not Out Of The Woods
Late this afternoon, the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved full funding for the “Pay Act,” or, translated, full funding for VSEA’s contract last best offer, which the VLRB ruled in favor of earlier this week.
That’s the good, now for the bad.
To meet the funding obligation, the Committee left in a proposal by the State to save $500,000 by privatizing the Office of Risk Management; a real bone of contention that WIA has written about several times in past issues.
“This continues to be a very bad idea, and VSEA will be working very hard to prevent this privatization from ever happening, because we do believe it will lead to a reduction in services and a loss of more than one hundred years of combined experience and dedication,” says VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard. “VSEA has provided lawmakers with privatization alternatives and other ideas to stop this from happening. It’s going to be a fight, but it’s one VSEA is prepared to participate in until we are able to protect these jobs and this critical service.”
>> VSEA continues to urge its members to call the senators who represent the district where you live and urge them to fully fund your contracts.
Read this issue of Week In Action!
View the Week In Action Newsletter Archive!
Subscribe to Week In Action Here!
Top Stories This Week:
Read the entire newsletter here!
The Fifth Floor sabres are already rattling. Nothing says support and respect for the process, for state employees and for Vermont, like this lovely musing from Secretary of the Administration Justin Johnson:
“At the end of the day, the biggest challenge, particularly this late in the year, is that this proposal … adds something like $11 million to costs. If someone has $11 million stashed away somewhere, I’d be really interested in knowing where it is.”
You see now the posturing that your VSEA Bargaining Teams were up against this entire way.
BTW: The Teams are only "this late in the process" because the Shumlin Administration couldn’t see the writing on the wall weeks ago (or months ago, as Brother Bob Stone points out), which most likely cost taxpayers thousands by dragging out the process.
After months of back-and-forth wrangling with the State of Vermont on successor contract agreements, thousands of Vermont State Employees’ Association (VSEA) members belonging to the union’s Non-Management, Supervisory and Corrections Units are cheering this afternoon’s news that the Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB) has chosen the workers’ last best offer as the deal to be imposed on the workers.
Continue Reading…
All VSEA Members Invited!
Time is quickly running out for Vermont legislators to finish their work before the adjournment of the 2016 session, but work on several key VSEA issues still remains. To bolster lawmaker and public support in the final weeks to resolve VSEA’s outstanding issues, your union is holding a press conference on Wednesday, April 20, to highlight:
- Funding of a Fair Contract;
- Ending the Privatization of Public Services;
- Funding for Safety and Security Enhancements; and
- Supporting Adequate Staffing Levels Across Government.
VSEA Solidarity Press Conference* – April 20
Featuring Vermont Gubernatorial Candidates
State House, Room 10
12:00 p.m.
(Members being asked to show up 15 minutes early, if possible)
*To Date, Three Gubernatorial Candidates (All Have Been Invited) Will Join In Solidarity With VSEA Members On Wednesday!! They are pictured here (L to R) Peter Galbraith, Matt Dunne and Sue Minter.
« Previous
1
…
244
245
246
247
248
…
404
Next »
