On January 10, VSEA’s Elections, Rules and Nominating Committee members counted the contract ballots recently submitted by members of the union’s Defender General (DG) Unit. By unanimous vote, DG Unit members voted in favor of a new labor agreement that, in addition to Unit-specific issue improvements, awards them the same pay restitution and increases that NMU, Corrections and Supervisory Unit members are voting on.
"The number of Vermonters living in poverty has changed little in the last 40 years, moving from 12.1 percent in 1969 to 11.5 percent two years ago. State government has failed to effectively address this and other economic disparities, according to a report from Vermont Interfaith Action presented Monday to four lawmakers and Secretary of Administration Jeb Spaulding."
"[Gov.] Shumlin would not say how many employees would work out of the new [Barre] office complex. He’ll outline the plan in further detail in his budget address Thursday."
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"When you stop to think about it, who is striking against the public—the politicians who cut services to the poor or elderly while refusing to appropriately tax the wealthy, or the unions who mobilize against the cuts? Who is extorting taxpayers—the corporations who threaten to pick up and leave if they don’t get millions in tax breaks or the workers who are committed to the communities they live in?"