Tomorrow’s Steward Training Cancelled!

Members who had registered are being rescheduled to one of the remaining trainings in 2019, which are still open to any VSEA member who would like to register.

View Additional 2019 Steward Trainings.

For more information please email VSEA Director of Field Services, Gretchen Naylor here: gnaylor@vsea.orgor call 802-223-5247. 

Told You’re Being Investigated? Watch This Video!

In response to requests from members for information about an employee’s rights in investigatory meetings, VSEA’s Communications Department posted a video this week, featuring VSEA activist Robin Rieske talking to members about their rights. 

It is important that every VSEA member knows his or her rights when it comes to union representation in investigatory meetings. Union representation at these meetings is a cornerstone of the labor movement. Your right to representation—as outlined in your contract and, in some cases, labor law—can be complicated.

Please take a few minutes on a break to watch the video, and know that the information being relayed could very well save your job someday. Remember, as a VSEA member, you are entitled to no-cost representation in investigatory meetings that may lead to discipline. Non-members, however, must now pay a rate of $250 to $350 per-hour for the same level of representation!

More Here: Know Your Union Rights

Not currently a VSEA member?
You can sign up online here.

2019 VSEA Legislative Dinner Schedule Announced

Thursday, January 17 – Pensions

Thursday, January 24 – Mental Health & Youth Services

Thursday, January 31 – Employee Rights

RSVP here today for any or all of the 2019 dinner meetings.

Event webpage to view and share! 

Your New Health Care
Co-Pay Is $25! Make Sure You Use The Correct Card

VSEA members should have received a mailing recently from Blue Cross/Blue Shield, containing your new health care card(s) for you and your family members. 

As many of you have pointed out, BC/BS has, in fact, sent out two mailings with cards, one containing card(s) listing your co-pay as $20 and another reading $25. The card(s) with $25 are the correct ones, and members should dispose of the card(s) with $20. The newly negotiated co-pay is $25.

The error was made by BC/BS, and VSEA is in no way responsible for the incorrect mailing. VSEA does, however, apologize for the confusion.

Note: Co-pay for specialists is now $30. 

Judiciary Unit Appoints Two New Unit Leaders

The Unit Executive Committee also appointed Heather Rogers to be its newest Steward. Rogers is a Docket Clerk in the Information Center at the Costello Courthouse in Burlington. She joins fellow Unit Stewards Dave Wortheim and Shane Shepperd at the Costello Courthouse and is also specially assigned to Grand Isle County. This is Rogers first union activist/leadership position with the VSEA.

Note: Congratulations to Victoria and Heather. Thanks for your service to the Judiciary Unit and to VSEA. 

BLS Finds Vermont Second Highest In The Nation For Employee
Non-Fatal Injuries & Illness

A newly released Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report confirms why VSEA members must continue to press lawmakers for improved on-the-job safety and health protections, finding Vermont is second highest in the nation, in terms of employee nonfatal injuries and illnesses.

From an online post:

Washington has a higher rate of total recordable cases than the national average. The national average of recordable cares in 2017 was 2.8 per 100 full-time employees, and Washington’s rate was 4.0. The state was among the 20 states with a rate higher than the national average.

In fact, Washington had one of the five highest rates, which included rates for the following states:

Maine at 4.8;
Vermont at 4.6;
Montana at 4.3;
Washington at 4.0; and
Alaska and Hawaii, both at 3.8.

Note: Surely, Vermont can do better.

VSEA Membership Drive 2019
Now Underway!

• Members who recruit two members will receive a Dunkin’ Donuts gift card;
   
• Members who recruit five new members will receive a VSEA insulated coffee mug; and 
   
• Members who recruit ten new members will receive a $50 Visa gift card.  

Every time you recruit a new member during the designated period*, your name is entered into a drawing to be conducted at VSEA’s 2019 Annual Meeting. Four names will be pulled at random and winners will receive a check for $300! 
 
Need a quick reference to help with your recruiting? You can view an informational webpage with some recruitment tips and advice here.

* Please be sure the new members you recruit add your name to the "Recruited By" line on their union card or membership application.
 
If you have any questions, or want a list of non-members in your area, please contact VSEA Director of Operations and Organizing Ray Stout by email: rstout@vsea.org
 

Save The Date!

Upcoming VSEA Organizer Worksite Meeting

• Agency of Education
  Wednesday, January 16
  12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  AOE Members 
  219 N. Main Street
  Third Floor Conference Room (304)
  Barre

  Questions: Contact VSEA Organizer Danielle Warner: dwarner@vsea.org

• National Life – AOT
  Tuesday, January 22
  12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
  Discussion w/ AOT Members About Move To Barre 
  National Life
  1 National Life Drive
  Fifth Floor Board Room
  Montpelier

  Questions: Contact VSEA Organizer Carmen Scoles: cscoles@vsea.org

Labor Unions Dodging Janus Ruling’s Blows–So Far

In These Times published a story on January 10 that provides a good look at how labor unions nationwide are successfully dodging a majority of the blows from the Supreme Court’s anti-union Janus ruling in 2018. 

From the story: 

Months after the Supreme Court’s June 2018 Janus v. AFSCME decision, public-sector unions are not teetering on the brink of collapse, as their detractors may have hoped. The consensus is that good preparation softened the initial blow.

“Anyone writing our obituary is going to be sorely disappointed,” Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), tells In These Times. “We don’t believe we are going to get hurt nearly as badly as people thought by Janus.”

&

In many states, public-sector unions are up against…groups bombarding members with opt-out messaging at home and at work. Public-sector union members are uniquely vulnerable to such campaigns because their contact information can be obtained through public records requests.

Representatives of AFSCME and AFT say that these attempts have largely backfired, and have instead galvanized support for the union.

AFT Offering Interest-Free Loans To Furloughed Members

From the story:

The AFT represents not only teachers but also other government employees, including corrections officers, firefighters, engineers and budget analysts who work in the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other tribal agencies. The union is offering one-year interest-free, no-credit-check loans of up to $1,500, with no payments due until after the shutdown has ended. 

The union said about 5,000 members are affected by the shutdown.

New Book Chronicles The Career Of The Working Person’s Photographer

Across the nation, Earl Dotter has been capturing working Americans in still photographs for decades, and now his career has been chronicled in a new book titled, Life’s Work: A Fifty Year Photographic Chronicle of Working in the U.S.A.

From a December 2018 review in the Journal of Working-Class Studies:

"Earl Dotter’s photographs of miners, textile workers, cleaners, farm laborers, fishers, nurses, emergency responders, window washers, industrial hygienists, and other workers, especially those exposed to dangerous and hazardous conditions, constitute a narrative of labor both crucial and largely invisible. As was true of Lewis Hine’s efforts to ameliorate the cruelty of child labor, Dotter’s photographs have agency, revealing the struggle for safe work and democratic unions, the aftermath of job-related deaths and injuries to workers and their families, and the marks of labor on a person’s body as evidenced by missing limbs or ‘quiet’ chronic sickness. Dotter’s photographs are [under]grounded, rooted in a particular vernacular of labor and, simultaneously, a dense and wide canopy of workers’ lives. He masters the technical challenge of photographing in a coal shaft or on a fishing boat during a winter storm, as well as the necessary empathetic human connection of photographing without turning his subjects into distanced victims or sociological categories."

Editor’s Note: I worked for the UMWA for nearly a decade and ran into Earl often at our events, or at other labor pickets, strikes, etc.–always with camera in hand. His photographs are exceptional, and he’s a really good guy, so I highly recommend checking out his book.