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VSEA Legislative Committee Chairperson Rose Lucenti shared the group’s mid-term “legislative update” with Council members this week, and all members and retirees are encouraged to review the update to learn the status of VSEA-supported bills moving through the State House.

Here is the legislation the Committee has identified as important for VSEA members to watch in the 2022 session’s second half.

• S. 78: Judiciary Arbitration Bill;
• Agency of Public Safety;
• State Deputy Organizing;
• Assault Against VSEA Members;
• H. 703: Workforce Development Bill;
• Corrections Staffing Crisis;
• FSD Safety;
• PSAPs;
• Vermont State Colleges;
• Pausing Raise the Age;
• Primary Care Requirements;
• Qualified Immunity; and
• Retirement

Read The Committee’s Mid-Term Update

(VSEA.org log-in required. VSEA members who do not have an account can register one for free here).

Vermont Stands With Ukraine Rally Sunday, March 13

Make It A Union-Made St. Patrick’s Day

VSEA Legislative Committee’s Mid-Term Update

Judiciary Unit Ratifies New Contract

VSEA Corrections Unit Members Encouraged To Sign Petition

Member / Legislator Zoom Dinner To Discuss Corrections Issues

VSEA Congratulates Vermont’s Game Warden Of The Year

April 1 Deadline To Submit Bylaw Changes

What’s Happening At The State House?

Reminders:

2022 VSEA Executive Branch Unit Steward Trainings

Scholarship Application Available Now!

Dues Clarification

Download Your Contract On VSEA.org!

Solidarity Stories:

Play Ball!

Study Finds Workers Are Waking Up To The Union Difference

REI & NYT Workers Say “Union Yes”

Read The Full Newsletter Here

Subscribe To Week In Action Here

The VSEA Awards/Scholarships Committee is currently soliciting applications from students seeking financial assistance in the pursuit of post-secondary educational goals.

The Committee will announce the recipients of the scholarships at the June Council Meeting.

Deadline: 4:30 p.m. on May 13, 2022

Learn more or view/download the 2022 VSEA scholarship application here.

VSEA Files Legal Challenge, Alleging The State Is Misclassifying Temporary Employees

Lawmakers Considering Installing A/C In Vermont’s Prisons

See Details Of Recently Ratified Executive Branch Unit Contracts

SAO Tentative Agreement Informational Meetings Scheduled

Vision Service Plan (VSP) Open Enrollment Ends Monday, February 28

What’s Happening At The State House?

Reminders:

2022 VSEA Executive Branch Unit Steward Trainings

April 1 Deadline To Submit Bylaw Changes

Scholarship Application Available Now!

Dues Clarification

Download Your Contract On VSEA.org!

Solidarity Stories:

Non-Union Workers Make Up Surprising Share Of 2021 Strikers

Youth Movement Gives Labor Hope

Apple Store Employees Are Using Encrypted Chats To Secretly Plan Union Push

Hershey’s Workers Expose Brutal Factory Conditions

Read The Full Newsletter Here

Subscribe To Week In Action Here

VSEA issued the following press release this afternoon:

With VSEA’s support, two Department for Children and Families (DCF) temporary workers have filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) to challenge their temporary classification. In addition, VSEA has sent a letter to Department of Human Resources (DHR) Commissioner Fastiggi, reporting on VSEA’s findings from more than three years of data collection on statewide temporary employment.

The two employees, Mallory McGurn and Mary Collins, work a regular, part-time schedule every week, recruiting and supporting foster parents. They have worked in their jobs for more than two years, and the work is expected to continue indefinitely. The State has seized on their part-time status and declared them to be “temporary”, depriving them of any legal rights, leave benefits, or step increases that would be provided to them as non-temporary employees.

The data, which was analyzed by VSEA Second Vice President Leslie Matthews, Ph.D. and General Counsel Tim Belcher, shows that the State employs hundreds of employees in ongoing jobs, working a significant number of hours on a regular basis, and deprives them of rights and benefits by misclassifying them as temporary workers. Some have worked in this capacity for years and even decades.

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