State To Build Temporary
12-Bed Forensic, Mental-Health Facility At
NW State

VTDigger reports on January 31 that Department of Mental Health Commissioner Melissa Bailey testified to lawmakers this week about a plan to construct a temporary 12-bed forensic, mental-health unit at the Northwest Regional Correctional Facility in Swanton, aiming for completion in 2019. Forensic patients are defined as those who have “entered the treatment system, via the courts.” VSEA DOC and DMH members have been at the State House asking lawmakers for a forensic unit for years, so the news is welcome to most frontline workers dealing with this population.

From the story:

“The forensic mental health population includes defendants who have been referred for competency or sanity evaluations. It also includes those who have been found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity.

Such patients now are scattered throughout the state’s mental health inpatient beds. At the Vermont Psychiatric Hospital, which has 25 beds, there are 12 to 14 forensic patients at any given time, Bailey said.

Forensic patients also tend to have ‘a significantly longer stay than someone who’s coming into the hospital from a civil commitment process because of the legal system and the legal processes that are involved with that care,’ Deputy Mental Health Commissioner Mourning Fox said.

Additionally, officials said the forensic population contributes to an ongoing problem with mental health patients getting stuck in Vermont’s hospital emergency rooms.

The department’s new, 12-bed facility dedicated to forensic patients will be housed in an existing building at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton.”

Bailey told lawmakers that the temporary unit would eventually be replaced by a “larger structure with more beds.”

Note: Most VSEA DOC and DMH members are welcoming the news of a forensic unit opening in 2019, as this has been something VSEA members have been lobbying for at the State House for more than a decade. As proof, here is a line from a Sept. 2007 edition of Week In Action: "VSEA members continue to push for a specialized forensic psychiatry unit to be a part of any State Hospital replacement plan."

Still Time!
Puck Drops Tomorrow Night!
See The Bruins
With VSEA!

Tickets still remain for: 
Boston Bruins vs.
Toronto Maple Leafs
Saturday, February 3, 2018
7:00 p.m. 
TD Garden (Section: Balcony 321)
Boston

$170 Per Person – Includes a bus ride to and from TD Garden, as well as a ticket to the game.

To reserve a seat(s) on the bus/ order tickets, contact VSEA Administrative Assistant Sue Devoid. You can reach Sue by email at sdevoid@vsea.org or by phone at 802-223-5247.

Purchase Tickets Online With Credit Card Here

Important! You will not be officially on the bus until full payment is received at headquarters. Please make checks payable to VSEA.

VSEA Policy Analyst Pens Overview Of State’s FY19 Budget Proposal

Following last week’s FY19 budget address by the State’s top official, VSEA Policy Analyst Adam Norton reviewed all the documents made available to the press and public, and he has boiled down his findings into a one-page summary. VSEA members are urged to read through Norton’s summary to learn what’s being proposed and if your service could be hurt or helped by language in the State’s FY19 budget proposal.

Read Norton’s FY19 Budget Summary

First VP Emails Survey Link
To Council Members

VSEA First Vice President Aimee Towne sent an email yesterday to all Council members, asking you to click on a link to complete a short survey in advance of the Council’s February 14 meeting in Montpelier. Towne is urging Council members to complete the survey no later than Monday, February 5.

If you are a Council member who did not receive the survey, please contact Aimee Towne (atowne@vsea.org) and she can send you the link.

Seven Days Reports: State Officials Met With CoreCivic Lobbyists
Prior To Announcement Of Private-Prison Proposal

There’s been a lot written recently about the State’s proposal to allow an out-of-state, for-profit, private contractor to build a 925-bed prison and forensic mental health facility right here in Vermont, and now Seven Days reports on January 26 that lobbyists for private-prison behemoth CoreCivic were meeting with top State officials prior to any formal announcement about the proposal.

From the story:

“Months before [the State] proposed partnering with a private prison corporation to build a 925-bed facility in northwestern Vermont, the [State’s top official] and two cabinet officials met with industry lobbyists who could benefit from the plan.

Records obtained by Seven Days show [State officials met] with representatives of CoreCivic, formerly known as Corrections Corporation of America, during a February 2017 trip to Washington, D.C. According to [State] spokesperson Rebecca Kelley, the 15-minute meeting included CoreCivic’s Ohio-based lobbyist, Dan Kaman, and the company’s Vermont lobbyist, Andrew MacLean.”

2016 Study Found Vermont Had One Of The Nation’s Highest Concentrations Of CCA Lobbyists

In September 2016, the group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington published a study about the private-prison industry. One of the study’s most alarming findings was that from 2011 to 2015, Vermont had one of the nation’s highest concentrations of Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) lobbyists. VSEA was aware there were CCA lobbyists operating in Vermont but unaware of how many were actively working the state during the years documented in the study.  

A Year After Moving Vermont Inmates To Pennsylvania Prison, Big Problems Being Alleged

From the story:

“Unlike past housing arrangements with private contractors, Vermont no longer makes the rules for how guards treat its out-of-state inmates. That puts Pennsylvania in charge of holding guards accountable for the way prisoners are treated. [Vermont] Inmates such as Wool have reported both threats and intimidation.”

&

“Because of limited phone access, Camp Hill inmates rely mostly on letters and a pay-per-message online system similar to email. In letters to Seven Days, three inmates detailed threats they say corrections officials have made since mid-December.

Vermont’s deputy corrections commissioner, Mike Touchette, told the House Corrections and Institutions Committee on January 9 that budgetary concerns restrict Vermont’s ability to force Pennsylvania to change conditions for Vermonters.

‘The more demands we place on the receiving state to provide services or follow our policies and procedures, it requires additional staffing, which drives the price up,’ he said.”

The story concludes that Pennsylvania officials refused to comment on the specific allegations being made to Seven Days.

Is Vermont Losing Six Workers
Every Day?

VTDigger reports today that Senate Pro Tem Tim Ashe is openly contesting one of the State’s primary talking points, which is that Vermont loses six workers every day, calling the statistic “completely incorrect.” 

“For the last year and a half we’re getting an average of 2.3 people in the labor force,” Ashe explains. “It’s not the same as six leaving the labor force. Six can’t be leaving if we have two coming every day.”

The State is firing back, claiming Ashe is attempting “to mislead Vermonters about these facts by intentionally using a smaller timeframe to skew the numbers.”

Note: State Auditor Doug Hoffer posted a clarifying comment to the VTDigger story, writing, “It is noteworthy that while the labor force declined (mostly due to retirements), Vermont gained 20,000 new jobs. That is, not only did we fill the jobs vacated by retirees, but we created 20,000 more. So while the long-term demographic change is real, it has not yet prevented
job growth.”

VSEA Organizers Holding Two Worksite Meetings
Next Week

VSEA Organizers will be conducting two worksite meetings next week, both beginning at 12:00 p.m.

• February 7 – Agency of Education – Conference Room 304 – Barre
   
• February 9 – Department of Labor – Lobby Conference Room – Montpelier

Enroll Today In VSEA Vision Insurance Program!

February 1 was the kick-off date for VSEA members to enroll in your union’s popular vision-care program.

Learn more about the vision benefit being offered here!

Vermont Bucks Cancel Season!

Economy Doing Well, So Why Aren’t
Wages Up?

The New York Times published a story today about the factors that are contributing to a weird phenomena occurring today in America, and that’s the failure of workers’ wages to keep pace with a growing economy that has featured an increase in jobs nationwide. The article points to several factors for the wage stagnation, including restraints on competition, a lagging minimum wage, globalization and automation, sluggish productivity, outsourcing and declining unionization.

From the article:

“A collapse in the rate of union membership for private-sector employees — to 6.5 percent last year from the upper teens in the early 1980s — appears to have played a key role in holding down wages. This is partly because unions benefit workers directly: Average pay for workers represented by unions tends to be higher than for those who aren’t, even after controlling for education and other characteristics. But unions also benefit workers indirectly. In industries and regions where unions have a larger presence, pay tends to be higher for all low- and medium-wage workers, not just those represented by unions.

“If you work for a nonunion firm and your employer is worried about the possibility of a unionization drive, one way to dampen down that possibility is to pay workers at the union rate,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis.

The effects are especially pronounced for men. A recent study by Mr. Rosenfeld and two colleagues estimated that wages for men employed in the private sector who are not union members would have been 5 percent higher on average — about $2,700 per year — by 2013 if unions had the same reach as in the late 1970s. (The figure excludes senior managers.) For men with only a high school diploma or less, that figure rose to nearly $3,200. 

National Nurses Union Launches Campaign
For Safe
RN-To-Patient
Staffing Ratios

The National Nurses Union created an online page this week, dedicated to promoting the union’s campaign to convince the U.S. Congress to pass a bill mandating national, safe RN (registered nurse)-to-patient staffing levels. The NNU page includes links for supporters to send letters to their congressional representatives, urging them to support safe staffing ratios.

From the NNU page:

RNs nationwide are actively working with NNU to win their own mandated direct-care RN-to-patient staffing ratios. RNs in other nations have also been fighting to improve conditions for their patients. Studies show that staffing ratios save lives, yet understaffing is a major issue RNs struggle with every day. Together, we can change that.  JOIN OUR RATIOS COALITION HERE!

Safe staffing saves lives! That’s why nurses applaud the intro of bills in the Senate by Sen. Sherrod Brown (S.1063) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (H.R.2392)—sponsored by NNU—that set safety limits on the # of patients each RN can care for in hospitals throughout the U.S.

The bills are modeled on California’s nurse-to-patient ratios law, fought for and won by the California Nurses Association/NNU. We will never stop fighting for our patients.”

The NNU bills are S. 1063 in the U.S. Senate and HR. 2392 in the U.S. House.

Vermont Brewery Named Best In World!

For all you VSEA beer enthusiasts, the Burlington Free Press reports on February 1 that the Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, Vt., has been rated the world’s best brewery by RateBeer, “a brew-review website featuring the opinions of beer critics and aficionados from around the world.” It’s the fourth year in a row the brewery has claimed the title, which is pretty impressive.

Other Vermont breweries also received honors and recognition from RateBeer, including:

• The Alchemist, based in Stowe, had its renowned hoppy brew Heady Topper make the list of top 100 beers in the world;
   
• The Prohibition Pig restaurant/brewery in Waterbury was among the choices for best places for beer in the United States;
   
• Eden Specialty Ciders, based in Newport, placed three of its varieties in the top 15 on the best-by-style list of cider and perry, an alcoholic drink made of pears; and
   
• Burlington-based House of Fermentology was named best new brewer in Vermont for 2017.

Groundhog
Sees Shadow!

Punxsutawney Phil scrambled up out of his burrow this morning and saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winter. If you love snow and winter, great news, but if you are ready for spring, not so great news.