Here is an excerpt from an email sent by a DOH manager to employees earlier today:
“I just received word that the Brattleboro building will be closed for the next week due to condensation issues related to the window replacement. We are asking all staff to work from home if at all possible. If you do need to go in we can go into the building quickly but otherwise we can go into 41 Spring Street. I hope to put out some more information tomorrow after…surveys the building and the space at 41 Spring St.
If you have any appointments at the building, please call and reschedule. I have reached out to the lab about the water samples and seeing if we can discontinue for 1 week.
Here is part of what one Brattleboro VSEA member sent to VSEA, after learning about the building’s closure:
I work out of the Brattleboro office and our building has been under construction to replace windows. We have complained a few times about the workers and how the work was being done while we were occupying the building; the humidity being so high the tile floors and carpet was wet. One BPS was shut in an office while a construction worker spray foamed windows. The smell was terrible all down the hall, and he shut her in there. We had to get fans to blow it down the hall so she didn’t pass out from the fumes.
We voiced concerns about mold and were brushed off and told it was just dust, all the whole continuing to work through it and suffering symptoms of mold such as headaches, coughing, insomnia and more.
Note: VSEA will be bringing this issue to the statewide Safety & Health Labor Management Committee
From a VTDigger story:
Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association, the union representing the state’s correctional officers, said Monday that it is an issue for negotiation.
“As I understand it, it is not a mandatory vaccination,” Howard said of the governor’s plan. “You have to show proof of vaccination or be subject to biweekly testing and masking — you have to wear a mask — so it’s a little bit different than mandatory.”
“You don’t have to get the vaccine if you don’t want to,” he said. “You just have to submit to the testing and the masking.”
He said the union sent the Scott administration a “Demand to Bargain” notice, as the governor’s plan represented a change in the working conditions.
Read the full story on VTDigger.org
See Also:
Governor’s Vaccination Mandate To Extend To All State Employees, Beginning September 15
Several VSEA Units are currently fighting to improve working conditions, and soon VSEA Bargaining Teams across the board will be entering into a new round of negotiations with the State, Judiciary, Housing Authority, State Colleges, etc., Show your solidarity by adding the frame above to your Facebook profile.
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The VSEA Board of Trustees recently voted to make a donation to the 2021 Champlain Valley Fair, and that provided VSEA with the opportunity to co-sponsor Vermont Foodbank Day on Thursday, September 2, 2021, from 10:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m.. Bring two non-perishable food items BEFORE 2:00 PM and get in FREE! Bring two more and save $10 off a ride bracelet! VSEA is co-sponsoring the day with the Vermont Federal Credit Union.
The Champlain Valley Fair begins August 27 and goes until September 5.
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