Press Dives In On Some Of The Issues Identified Within Vermont Corrections Department

A little more than a week after publication of a Seven Days story, concerning allegations of serious offenses committed over a nine-year span by employees at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility (CRCF), the Vermont press corp has been diving in on some of the issues identified there and also within the Corrections Department, as a whole. 

Rather than try to summarize all the news published this week, concerning the Vermont Corrections Department–including the resignation of DOC Commissioner Touchette–here are links to some of the stories:

• Seven Days: 
  Tip of the Iceberg: More Trouble at the Vermont Department of Corrections
   
• VTDigger: Top Newport Prison Officials Placed on Leave, Corrections Chief Says
   
• VPR: Corrections Commissioner Mike Touchette Leaving Post, Department Under Scrutiny
   
• Seven Days: Vermont Prisons Lack Independent Abuse Reporting Hotline
   
• VTDigger: Reports of Abuse at Women’s Prison Prompting Reviews of Cases Statewide
   
• Seven Days: ‘Everybody Knew’: Guards Say Higher-Ups Ignored Serious Misconduct in Vermont’s Prison System
   
• WCAX: State’s Attorney Ramps Up Review of Women’s Cases Linked to Vt. Prison

Letter To Editor Writer Wants State To Keep Woodside Open

"It was recently reported that [the State] plans to close the Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center in Colcheter, the only one of its kind in the state, because the 30-bed building was empty for the first time ever. 

The closing of Woodside as a solution to juvenile justice is a way to hide the problem, another example of a failed criminal justice system. The policymakers have no clue.

Closing Woodside because it’s not used is a scripted way to justify a liberal approach to justice. The same tactic for supposedly proving a facility is no longer needed has been used in other detention facilities around the state. 

There will be no justice here for victims or perpetrators, no accountability regardless the pain and loss. 

Instead of closing metal health and correctional facilities, we should be building more of them. The public safety demands it, the victims deserve it and at the same time, with properly run facilities and programs, perpetrators can be given a chance to turn their lives around. But if they chose not to, then they at least are kept from hurting others. 

Vermont, in the most tragic chapters in our criminal justice and mental health history, chose to close Windsor State Prison, Brandon Training School and the Weeks School several decades ago. Later, the state hospital in Waterbury was also closed. 

We threw away these tried-and-true facilities to move into an untested area of community corrections and community mental health that proved to be major failures. Now we want to do it again.

Such small-minded thinking should be a red flag for [the State], who should review the past before [it] repeats mistakes once more."

Note: These are the kinds of letters to the editor that VSEA is urging members and retirees to submit to your local papers, educating the public about the vital service Woodside offers and standing in solidarity with the facility’s experienced and dedicated workers. 

BGS To Test Drinking Water In State Office Buildings

WIA will update members with more of the water testing details, as they become available.  

VSEA’s 2020 Legislative Agenda

• Protecting and Enhancing Retirement Security;
• Securing a Budget that Maintains Vital Public Services;
• Protecting Our Health Care;
• Enhancing Employee Health, Safety & Security;
• Preventing the Privatization of State Services;
• Preventing the Exploitation and Overuse of Temporary Employees;
• Stopping “Right to Work” and Protecting Collective Bargaining; and
• Collaborating on Solidarity Issues Affecting Labor and Working Vermonters

If you have any questions about VSEA’s 2020 agenda, please contact VSEA Legislative Specialist Tom Abdelnour at tabdelnour@vsea.org.  

State Representative Pens Commentary, Calling For Fair Tax Distribution 

From Yacavone’s commentary:

Vermont is a small state and cannot be all things to all people. Yet, we must help lessen the financial plight so many face. Can we lower the taxes on Vermonters of modest means while still making sure our government is responsive to the vulnerable? Can we meet our obligations to the aged, the blind and disabled while protecting children from abuse and neglect? Can we take care of our roads and bridges and so much more that government is called on to do? I think the answer is yes, but it will not be easy.

And, he concludes:

We need bold leadership to make Vermont affordable. Just saying no to more taxes, especially on those at the top, does little to make Vermont affordable. It merely strips government of its capacity to do the business of government. It handcuffs our ability to help improve the lives of Vermonters. We need to lower taxes for ordinary hardworking Vermonters while increasing them on those most able to pay. In so doing we can stimulate our economy as people will likely  spend their tax cuts and we can begin to build the public assets needed for our new economy and improve our quality of life for all Vermonters. 

Union Made Stocking Stuffers

• Rayovac batteries;
• Allan peppermint candy canes;
• Ghirardelli chocolates;
• Hershey’s chocolates;
• Jelly Belly;
• Laffey Taffey;
• Jordan almonds;
• See’s Candies;

NH Vets’ Home Housekeepers Protest New Directive To Work Christmas Day 

The website InDepthNH reports today on a protest at the New Hampshire State House yesterday by state employees who work at the state’s Veterans’ Home and will be required to work Christmas Day under under the Governor’s proposed contract.

From the post: 

Pat Perry and Carolyn Bartlett have worked as housekeepers at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton for about five years and always enjoyed Christmas as the only holiday they could count on to spend with their families.

There are about 15 housekeepers who are impacted by the proposed change. They said they already gave up on having weekends off and now would be required to work on Christmas under the current proposal.

Alarming! 
Taxes On Workers Replacing  Corporate Taxes

This is some pretty alarming data…

From a December 13 Markets Insider web post:

Seventy-seven percent of tax filers in the US were projected to pay some amount of payroll tax in 2019, data from the Tax Policy Center shows. 

Bad News: 
New Survey Finds Half Of American Workers Received No Raise This Year

From the story: 
 

Overall, 49% of employees enjoyed a salary increase in some form in the last 12 months, up from 38% this time last year, according to a telephone survey of 1,000 people conducted for Bankrate.com. That’s the highest share of workers reporting pay increases since 2016, the survey found. One in 10 workers said they had both landed a raise at their current job and then gotten a new higher-paying job.

Raises were more common for better-paid workers — 55% of those earning at least $50,000 a year enjoyed a bump in pay this year, compared to 43% for those who make less than that. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of workers making less than $30,000 a year reported no positive change in their income, Bankrate.com, a provider of personal finance information, found. 

Good News: 
Almost Seven Million American Workers Will Start 2020 With Higher Wages

The Economic Policy Institute posted a story on December 18 that, "At the start of the new year, minimum wages will have gone up in 22 states, lifting pay for 6.8 million workers across the country."

From the post:

In total, workers affected by the increases will earn an extra $8.2 billion over the course of 2020 as a result of the changes. The increases range from a $0.10 inflation adjustment in Florida to $1.50 per hour raises in New Mexico and Washington. Affected workers who work year-round will see their annual pay go up between $150 and $1,700, on average, depending on the size of the minimum wage increase in their state.

Here’s the EPI’s Vermont breakdown:

• Share of workforce directly benefiting: 5.2%
• Type of increase: Inflation adjustment
• New minimum wage as of Jan. 1, 2020: $10.96
• Amount of increase: $0.19
• Total workers directly benefiting: 16,200
• Total increase in annual wages: $3,932,000
• Average increase in annual earnings of year-round workers: $240