VSEA Bargaining Teams Begin Prepping For Trip Back
To VLRB

VSEA Labor Relations Director Gary Hoadley sent a brief bargaining update this morning to the home email addresses of all VSEA Non-Management, Corrections and Supervisory Unit members who have provided headquarters with a valid address. In the message, Hoadley details the current status of the 20-day fact-finding process, warning that the State’s unwillingness to date to negotiate around the terms and conditions contained in the fact-finder’s report means VSEA’s Teams are almost certainly headed back the Vermont Labor Relations Board for a final contract determination, much like what happened in 2016.

VSEA members who did not receive this important bargaining notice in their home email can and should update your home or work email address or other information simply by clicking here.

You can also reach out to a member of your Bargaining Team for a more comprehensive update. Find a list of Team members here.

VSEA Creates Council Member & Steward Facebook Group Pages

Responding to VSEA members’ requests for new ways to engage with their fellow union members and state employees, VSEA recently created two new Facebook group pages, one for Council members and another for Stewards. The pages are being administered by VSEA, and in order to keep out trolls or non-members, the name of anyone seeking to join one or both of the groups will be checked through VSEA’s membership database.

Hopefully, these pages will provide VSEA Council members and Stewards with a place to ask questions, provide information and post articles of interest to the group. In addition, Council members and Stewards can now engage with their counterparts statewide on a daily basis.

• Join VSEA Council Facebook Group
   
• Join VSEA Steward Facebook Group

VPCH Signs Settlement With VOSHA. Remedy Now Required.

• By February 17, VPCH management must begin to create a “Safety Council”, and, according to VSEA members, it is in the works;
   
• By March 5, VPCH management must issue a survey “on how best to provide information and decisions discussed around EIPs and High-Risk Notes and how best to get more staff input”;
   
• By March 5, VPCH management must staff survey on risk assessment protocol;
   
• By March 5, VPCH management must hold training for staff on “legal issues”;
   
• By March 19, VPCH management must produce a first draft of a “stand-alone” written workplace prevention and crisis response policy: to include a laundry list of things;
   
• By April 18, VPCH management must add a document to each patient’s admission packet, clearly articulating that violence or threats of violence are unacceptable; and
   
• By June 18, VPCH management must host a training forum with “selected” frontline staff.

 
In February 2019, VPCH management must meet one of the most important VOSHA requirements, which is to provide employees with a place of employment “free from recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or significant physical harm to employees.”
 
VOSHA is also requiring VPCH management to provide it with a “full accounting of all fiduciary expenditures, including staff time and capital expenditures, to achieve abatement. VSEA will also be asking to see this accounting.  

Vermont Has New England’s Smallest Percentage Of Unionized Public Workers

A website called “The 74” posted a story this week that talks the Janus v. Illinois lawsuit and includes a map that shows the percentage of unionized public-sector workers in every state.
 
Here’s a look at New England states:
 
New York – 67.4%
Connecticut – 66.2%
Rhode Island – 63.9%
Maine – 48.2%
New Hampshire – 48.1%
Vermont – 46.4%

Deadline To Sign Up For VSEA Supplemental Vision Benefit Is Wednesday, February 28!

Learn more or enroll here!

Legislative Committee Meeting February 28  

In advance of the coming Town Meeting break, VSEA’s Legislative Committee is meeting on February 28 to discuss the current status of legislation important to state employees, get updated on Unit bargaining progress and the potential to have to educate lawmakers about the process and to meet with lawmakers who are key State House players in the VSEA-member-related issue debates happening now and the ones that will be happening soon.

AOT Worksite Meeting On February 28!

VSEA Organizer Carmen Scoles has scheduled a meeting for February 28 with AOT members who work at National Life in Montpelier. The meeting begins at 12:00 p.m.

• February 28 –Fourth Floor Conference Room (N413)– National Life, Montpelier

AOT Employees Remind Motorists To Respect Snow Plows

Motorists should also slow down when approaching AOT workers filling potholes. Just last week, a 64-year-old Colorado AOT worker was struck by a car while filling potholes, and he died a few days later. The Gillette News Record reports that the employee’s co-workers are carrying the worker’s remains from Denver to Pagosa Spring for burial, and the procession will include a snowplow that the worker drove during his 14 years as a state employee.

Supreme Court Rules (Correctly!) That Teachers’ Collective Bargaining Sessions Are Not Subject To Vermont Open Meeting Laws

Score one for Vermont workers, after the Vermont NEA successfully defended teacher negotiating sessions being closed to the general public.

Props to NEA Counsel (and past VSEA staff member) Rebecca McBroom (pictured here arguing in front of the Supreme Court) for all her outstanding work to obtain the ruling!

Here’s an excerpt from a press release issued this afternoon by the NEA:

"The court also made clear that contract talks are meetings of equal parties, and applying the Open Meeting Law would upend that balance. “We are especially gratified that the Supreme Court reaffirmed that educators and school boards are equals at the bargaining table,” [NEA Attorney] McBroom said.

The court also outright rejected the newly formed VSBA assertion that the law requires public bargaining. For decades, the court pointed out, teachers and school boards have conducted bargaining in private. “We are hard-pressed to believe that the experienced lawyers engaged in labor negotiations of this type overlooked this issue until recently,” the court said."

Read NEA’s Entire Press Release

Economic Policy Institute Releases Report That Exposes The Organizations That Are Funding The Janus v. Illinois Hearing

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) released a report this week that shines a light on “the organizations financing the attack on unions’ ability to represent workers.”

The EPI report begins:

Over the last decade, a number of cases attacking the rights of public-sector union members have been quietly working their way through the courts and, finally, up to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The most recent of these challenges is Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, which the U.S. Supreme Court will hear on February 26. If the court rules for Janus, it will likely have the most significant impact on workers’ freedom to organize and bargain collectively in 70 years.

Janus is the third case to come before the Supreme Court in five years involving public-sector unions’ ability to collect “fair share” (or “agency”) fees. As this report will show, Janus, and the two fair share cases that preceded it, did not grow from an organic, grassroots challenge to union representation. Rather, the fair share cases are being financed by a small group of foundations with ties to the largest and most powerful corporate lobbies. These organizations and the policymakers they support have succeeded in advancing a policy agenda that weakens the bargaining power of workers. In Janus, these interests have focused their attack on public-sector workers—the workforce with the highest union density.

We examine the core group of organizations financing this litigation. By tracing the origins of these legal challenges, and explaining how the challenges target unions, we show that challenging fair share fees in the courts appears to be part of a broader billionaire-financed agenda to weaken unions and shift power away from ordinary workers.

Full EPI Report Here

VSEA Bus Trip To Foxwoods Casino!

The VSEA Membership Recruitment Committee is pleased to announce a 2018 casino trip with a two-night stay!

Lodging Cost:
(Two Nights at Two Trees Inn):

• $248/single occupancy;
• $138 per person/double occupancy; or
• $122 per person/triple occupancy.

Bus Cost:
$70 per person
Bus will depart from Waterbury at 12:00 p.m. and White River Junction at 1:00 p.m.

Included Bonuses:

• Baggage handling;
  (2) $10 food credit or full Festival Buffet;
• $5 food credit or full Breakfast Buffet;
• $20 slot play;
• 20% discount at any Foxwoods gift shop with a purchase of $25 up to $1,000; and
• A Foxwoods souvenir.

To register or for more information, please contact VSEA Union Rep Bob South (bsouth@vsea.org) or Administrative Assistant Sue DeVoid (sdevoid@vsea.org). Each can be reached by phone at 802-223-5247.

Important Information!
Payment must be received within one week of registering or you will lose your spot. Cash, check and credit card payments accepted. To pay, please contact VSEA Union Representative Bob South by email (bsouth@vsea.org) or phone 802-223-5247. Thank You!

Catholic Church Pens Strong Condemnation Of Janus Lawsuit’s Potential Harm To Workers 

From February 21 Post To National Catholic Reporter:

"The strength of individuals, bonded together for better wages and working conditions, is not only a Catholic teaching, it is reflected in the National Labor Relations Act. Employees have ‘the right to self-organization,’ to join or form ‘labor organizations’ and ‘to bargain collectively.’ Congress enacted the National Labor Relations Act, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed it precisely for the purpose of equalizing bargaining power.

In the whole history of the United States, there are few clearer examples of the convergence of Catholic social thought and American public policy than the National Labor Relations Act. The two systems of thought converge precisely on the importance of solidarity. Solidarity is a Christian virtue that aims to promote social justice; it is also the foundation of American labor organizations and a precept of federal law.

And while the National Labor Relations Act does not apply directly to Janus v. AFSCME, the spirit of Catholic social thought, and the original intent of the National Labor Relations Act can both be productively accessed for interpretive guidance.”

Read The Full Post Here

In Wake Of Horrific Parkland School Shooting, Florida Teachers’ Unions Launch Assistance Fund 

From the Florida teachers’ unions’ fundraising page:

"Our hearts are broken. It is impossible to make sense of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Broward County, Florida. But in moments of tragedy, our union family comes together to support one another—and we ask you to join us.

Your contribution through the AFT Disaster Relief Fund will go directly to providing resources and supports for the students, families, educators and staff at Stoneman and the surrounding school community.

Thank you for standing with our union brothers and sisters and the communities they serve."

Contribute Here Online Here

West Virginia Teachers Walk Out Across State!

Chanting to lawmakers “Do your job so I can do mine,” West Virginia teachers converged on the state capital today after walking off the job en masse yesterday across 55 counties. It is the first statewide teacher’s strike since 1990. Teachers are frustrated with the Governor’s proposed pay increase and health care raid and are demanding help from lawmakers.
 
The walkout is only scheduled to last two days, but according to an Associated Press story this week, many teachers are telling their union they are prepared to stay out an additional week(s), if that is what it takes.

"If our people tell us to, then that’s what we’ll do," says one teacher.