One Week Left For Executive Branch Unit Members To Vote Yay Or Nay On Tentative Agreement!
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A reminder to VSEA members belonging to the Executive Branch Units (Non-Management, Supervisory and Corrections Units) that you must cast your contract ratification vote by 4:30 p.m., Friday, November 22.
VSEA’s Elections, Rules and Nominating Committee emailed contract ratification ballots to all eligible VSEA members last Friday. The email also contained the member’s online voting link, as well as links to a cover letter about the tentative agreement from VSEA Labor Relations Director Gary Hoadley and a summary of the contract’s terms and conditions you are voting up or down.
The firm SimplyVoting emailed the link to members. If you requested a paper ballot in the past, your ballot is being mailed to you.
Very important! Your electronic ballot was sent to the primary email address that VSEA currently had on file for you. This is a big reason why VSEA is constantly soliciting members to contact your union with your updated email address. You can update your contact information here anytime.
If you did not receive an email last Friday from SimplyVoting–or don’t recall receiving it–please look in your “Other” or “Spam” folders before contacting headquarters to request that your ballot be reissued.
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VSEA Tentative Agreement & Pension Fight Tour Continues
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| Tentative agreement contract ballots were emailed last Friday, but until they are due back on November 22, VSEA will be continuing to visit worksites to provide undecided members with an overview of the tentative contract agreement reached on October 22 by the Executive Branch Unit Bargaining Teams. In addition, they’ll talk about an anticipated, renewed attack on VSEA members’ defined benefit pension plan and how members and retirees can help their union in the coming months. |
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| Here Are The Upcoming Meetings:
* = Tentative Agreement Meeting Only
- November 18, Barre* – 5 Perry Street, ESD Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 18, Montpelier – 1 National Life Drive, Davis Building, Basement Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. View flyer –
RSVP online
- November 18, VPCH – 350 Fisher Road, Special Events Room – 2:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 19, St. Albans* – 27 Federal Street, First Floor Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. RSVP online
- November 19, Waterbury – 280 State Drive, Cherry B Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 20, Bennington – 150 Veterans Memorial Drive, First Floor Voc Rehab Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 20, Vermont Veterans’ Home – 325 North Street, Canteen – 2:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 21, Brattleboro – 232 Main Street, First Floor Conference Room – 12:00 p.m. View flyer – RSVP online
- November 22, Burlington – 108 Cherry Street – 12:00 p.m.
- November 22 – 4:30 p.m. – Deadline To Vote On Contract!
Learn More:
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| Have a question in advance about the tentative agreement?
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VSEA Balks At Joining State’s "OneCare" Health Plan
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VTDigger reported this past weekend on VSEA and the VTNEA both rejecting the idea of joining Vermont’s "all-payer" OneCare health care system, which came as news to VSEA. Also, as the story notes, OneCare is currently being audited.
Before getting to an excerpt from the story, there have been a lot of comments posted to it, including one from VSEA President Dave Bellini, which is worth sharing, for purposes of background:
"OneCare never told the VSEA we were targeted to go into their experiment. Blue Cross never told VSEA they planned to put us in OneCare. This information was withheld. We got TIPPED OFF this was happening. BCBS and OneCare had no plans to ever tell us. It’s difficult to trust these companies. I’m not sure BCBS or Onecare ever informed the State of Vermont what they were doing. The plan was for the VSEA and State to find out after the fact, apparently. If there was a plan or desire, for including state employees, why didn’t OneCare or BCBS talk to us 2 years ago? Or 1 year ago? Many questions about OneCare remain unanswered: How does this help [VSEA] members? Will care get rationed? How much money will it save us? What are the downsides? How do we get out? If Doctors get a capitated rate, why will they still bill fee for service anyway?
OneCare hasn’t saved any money for anybody after 2 years. But the pitch to us is: “join us anyway”
Now, from the story:
[VSEA Exec Dir Steve Howard] said he wouldn’t sacrifice the well-being of state employees to help prop up what he described as an untested health care experiment.
“Someone else’s crisis is not our emergency,” he said of OneCare’s goal to add people to the system. He said he wanted to wait to join until OneCare had been audited by the state, and when he was sure the organization was fiscally strong. State Auditor Doug Hoffer is working on two reports about OneCare, but his bid to conduct a full audit of the company was blocked by the Legislature earlier this year.
“We have some of the best health care in the country,” Howard said. “We don’t want to screw that up just to pursue someone else’s agenda.”
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Howard, of the VSEA, said he needed to be sure that OneCare was on firm financial footing.
“We’re in no rush,” he said, adding that he planned to wait at least a year until the VSEA joined OneCare. “Our health care plan is great. Maybe [OneCare] should be looking at how we manage our health plan.”
He added that state employees had no interest in supporting a state initiative at their own expense. “Our members are not interested in building anyone’s empire for them,” he said.
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Lawmakers Go To Prison To Hear From Workers & Inmates
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| VTDigger reported last week on a November 8 visit by lawmakers belonging to the Joint Legislative Justice Oversight Committee to the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton, where they listened as Corrections employees and inmates detailed the many issues confronting them daily. The meeting comes in advance of the January 2020 legislative session, where VSEA members will almost certainly be testifying again to lawmakers about overtime mandates, staffing shortages and very low morale, hoping that the small group of visiting lawmakers to Northwest last week will help them educate their colleagues on the need for serious action this session. |
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VSEA State Colleges’ Unit Members Take The Campus Lead On Campaign To Increase Funding
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| Northern Vermont University’s student newspaper, Basement Medicine, posted a story this week that featured VSEA members promoting the union’s campaign to increase funding for Vermont’s state colleges.
From the story:
The Vermont State Employee’s Association (VSEA) has created a petition calling on the chancellor, board of trustees and lawmakers to increase funding for the Vermont State College System.
“We’ve been trying to figure out ways to convince these guys that we need money,” says Sandy Noyes, chairperson for the Vermont State Colleges represented staff chapter. Noyes says that not only are classes, staff positions and faculty positions being cut, but many positions opened after employees retire are not being filled.
“They’re depending on part-timers,” says Noyes. According to her, departments such as housekeeping and maintenance are also running on fewer and fewer people as well.
Despite the cuts that have happened at each of the VSCS campuses, Noyes feels that not all levels of the administration have sacrificed as much as others. “We all need to cut back,” says Noyes, “and I do not see the Chancellor’s office cutting back.”
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Jessica Aupperlee, administrative assistant in Public Safety, first heard about the petition at a VSEA meeting. “I just felt like something needed to be done and this state really needs to step up and fund higher education,” says Aupperlee.
Aupperlee has sent out emails, passed around petitions at campus events, and distributed them to offices around the college. “Every person who I’ve approached has signed it,” she says. Having student loan debt of her own, she feels that students are graduating with even more debt than they can handle.
“Students are graduating with so much debt that they can’t start their lives,” she said.
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| Colder than usual temperatures this week caught some state office heating systems by surprise, evidenced by multiple reports of very cold conditions on Wednesday in offices throughout the Waterbury State Office Complex.
Here’s a reminder of what the Non-Management Unit contract language says in Article 29, section 16, about cold and hot offices:
16. AIR QUALITY AND TEMPERATURE
The State will respond promptly to complaints about air quality in existing State owned and leased buildings including air testing when appropriate. The State will consider reasonable corrective measures when indoor workplace temperatures are less than sixty-five (65) degrees or more than eighty-five (85) degrees. Air quality standards for newly-constructed or newly-leased buildings shall be subject for consideration/recommendation by the Safety and Health Maintenance Committee.
Note: If excused from work because it’s too cold or hot, employees will have to use their own leave, unless management approves employees leaving without using their own leave. If your building is closed outright, constituting an "emergency closure," Article 44 of the contract kicks in.
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VSEA Retiree Jane Osgatharp Chairs Final Meeting As VTARA President
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| Jane Osgatharp (ARA tee) is pictured here with her final meeting’s main speaker, former Vermont Governor Madeline Kunin. Osgatharp says the photo is “very special to me.” |
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After six years serving as president of the Vermont Chapter of the Alliance for Retired Americans (VTARA), VSEA retiree Jane Osgatharp is stepping down, after chairing her final meeting this past Saturday.
“For me, [Saturday’s] meeting was very special because it was my last as president,” Osgatharp wrote to fellow VTARA members in an email. “As a founding member of the Vermont Chapter, this work has been very important to me, but it IS work. Although I will continue to work actively with the VTARA, I no longer have the responsibility of the presidency, which is a great relief!”
VSEA is congratulating Jane and thanking you for her years of dedicated service to VTARA and VSEA.
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Organizer Job Opening At VSEA HQ!
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| VSEA headquarters is hiring. If you’re a member who is interested in applying for the position listed below, please email your resume and a cover letter to vsea@vsea.org. Please write "Union Organizer Position" in the email’s subject line.
Position: VSEA Union Organizer
View the full job posting online |
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Did You Know Vermont Ranks Last In The Nation For State College Funding?
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| Although Vermont is among the top five in the United States for K-12 education funding, Vermont is ranked 50th for state college funding.* VSEA members are standing strong in support of the Vermont State College staff and are demanding a solution to the many years of chronic underfunding.
To demonstrate how much our state colleges mean to Vermonters, VSEA is urging members, retirees, and the public to sign the union’s online petition, which calls on state officials and lawmakers to immediately increase VSC funding.
* Source: Inside Higher Ed.com – January 21, 2019
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Quote Of
The Week!
"These kinds of programs like the remote worker, in my opinion, are not the most cost effective."
Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer, commenting in a WCAX story this week about a recent audit of the the State’s much-ballyhooed remote worker incentive program. The audit found gaping holes in the program, including, from the report, "there’s no way to determine grantees moved to Vermont as a result of the moving expense reimbursements — and not because they were planning the move anyway. Also, with applicants required to show proof of Vermont residence when applying for their moving expenses to be reimbursed, ‘that means they had the will and means to relocate without the program.’"
Mind you, the State is looking for ways to reduce costs…
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- Bennington
Tuesday, November 19
Tap House – Catamount Glass
Back Room
304 County Street
Bennington
5:00 p.m.
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- Franklin / Grand Isle
Thursday, November 21
Mimmo’s Restaurant
22 South Main Street
St. Albans
5:00 p.m.
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Working Vermont Hosting January 2020 Event With AFT’s National President Randi Weingarten
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Working Vermont (a coalition of Vermont labor unions, including VSEA) is pleased to be hosting a reception for national American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten.
Here are the details:
AFT Randi Weingarten Reception
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
State House Cafeteria
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
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Machinists’ Union Sues Federal NLRB Over Boeing Ruling
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| Bloomberg Law reports this week that the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union has sued the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), alleging the agency exceeded its authority when it overturned a 2018 unionization vote by Boeing Co. workers in South Carolina.
From the story:
The workers voted to join the International Association of Machinists in a 2018 election, but the NLRB subsequently reviewed the matter and ruled that the workers didn’t have enough in common to participate in the same election and join the same unit within the IAM. The holding came in a 3-1 decision, with the board’s lone Democrat dissenting.
Now the IAM is challenging the board’s decision, suing under a rarely used procedure that allows federal district courts to review an NLRB ruling on a bargaining unit when a complainant alleges the agency acted “in excess of its delegated powers and contrary to a specific prohibition” in the National Labor Relations Act—the law the agency is authorized to interpret and enforce. NLRB decisions on what constitutes an appropriate unit, or a “bargaining unit” are generally unreviewable, and the NLRB gets the final say in almost all cases.
“It’ll be an important decision if the court reverses the board, as it should,” IAM General Counsel Mark Schneider said. “But at the end of the day it’s about vindicating these workers’ rights to have a union.”
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| November 18
Tentative Agreement Meeting – Barre
McFarland State Office Building
5 Perry Street
ESD Conference Room
Barre
12:00 p.m.
November 18
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Montpelier
National Life
1 National Life Drive
Davis Building
Montpelier
12:00 p.m.
November 18
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Berlin
VPCH
350 Fisher Road
Special Events Room
Berlin
2:00 p.m.
November 19
Tentative Agreement Meeting – St. Albans
State Offices
27 Federal Street
First Floor Conference Room
St. Albans
12:00 p.m.
November 19
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Waterbury
State Office Complex
350 Fisher Road
Cherry B Conference Room
Waterbury
12:00 p.m.
November 19
NEK / St. Johnsbury Chapter Meeting
DCF District Office Building
1016 U.S. Route 5
St. Johnsbury
12:00 p.m.
November 19
Bennington Chapter Meeting
Tap House – Catamount Glass
Back Room
304 County Street
Bennington
5:00 p.m.
November 20
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Bennington
State Offices
150 Veterans Memorial Drive
Voc Rehab Conference Room
Bennington
12:00 p.m.
November 20
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Vets’ Home
325 North Street
Canteen
Bennington
2:00 p.m.
November 21
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Brattleboro
State Offices
232 Main Street
First Floor Conference Room
Brattleboro
12:00 p.m.
November 21
Franklin / Grand Isle Chapter Meeting
Mimmo’s Restaurant
22 South Main Street
St. Albans
5:00 p.m.
November 22
Pension / Tentative Agreement Meeting – Burlington
State Offices
108 Cherry Street
Burlington
12:00 p.m.
November 22
Final Day For Executive Branch VSEA Members To Cast Ratification Vote
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| Thank you for reading Week In Action! |
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| Fall 2019 Membership Drive! |
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| After a very successful membership-recruitment initiative this past summer, VSEA is excited to announce a new membership drive for the next quarter, or the fall of 2019.
Never forget that ongoing recruitment is vital to the strength of your union!
- Members who recruit TWO members will receive a VSEA insulated travel mug; and
- Members who recruit FIVE new members will receive a dues holiday for a month; and
- Members who recruit TEN new members will receive a check for $50!
Each time you recruit a new member during the designated period (September 1 – November 30, 2019), your name is entered into a drawing. Four names will be pulled at random and winners will receive a check for $100!
If you have any questions or want a list of non-members in your area, please contact VSEA Director of Operations and Organizing Amy Kinsell by email:
akinsell@vsea.org
Help spread the word!
Download, distribute and post this flyer in your worksite! Thanks! |
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| WATCH: Video Of Keynote Speaker At VSEA’s Annual Meeting |
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| If you want to feel inspired, view and listen to the rousing "why unions matter" keynote address that UFCW Local 1445 President Jeff Bollen delivered to members and retirees attending VSEA’s 75th Annual Meeting on September 14. Bollen is a leader of the successful Stop & Shop strike in April 2019. |
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| Bolton Valley Again Offering Discounted Ski & Ride Passes To VSEA Members! |
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| WIA was asked by Bolton Valley Group Sales Manager, Eric Davis, to include the following in this week’s newsletter: |
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Buy next year’s season pass now and:
- Get the lowest price of the year AND…
- Ski & Ride the rest of this season FREE!!! That’s right, if you buy next year’s pass now, you can join us for the rest of this season on next season’s pass!
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Please contact me with any questions.
Eric Davis
Group Sales Manager
edavis@boltonvalley.com |
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Reminder:
State Employees Who Are Threatened On The Job Should File "eAlert" Form |
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| We are reminding members that there is an online form to fill out if you are threatened while at work.
Find The State’s “eAlert” Homepage Here
Important: Once you land on the eAlert page, you will see an entry labeled “threat” in the menu provided. Click on it and you land on a page with written instructions and fields to complete.
In November 2017, the current Secretary of the Administration sent the State’s “Workplace Safety and Security” policy to state employees, and VSEA members are encouraged to read through the different policies, examples and responses, prior to an actual event occurring. |
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| Told You’re Being Investigated? Watch This Video! |
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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: Know Your Union Rights
Not currently a VSEA member?
You can sign up online.
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| What You Should Know About The Anti-Worker Janus v. AFSCME U.S. Supreme Court Ruling |
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If you haven’t already, begin educating yourself today about what the Janus decision means—or supplement what you know already. Please also inform your co-workers about this Janus page and talk with them about what you learned and remind them of the importance of a union in their everyday life. You could make a difference. Every study shows that nothing is more effective than member-to-member communication.
Learn More On VSEA.org
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| Getting Ready To Retire? Retired Already? Join The VSEA Retired Members’ Chapter! |
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Long-time VSEA activist and leader Terry Lefebvre is asking VSEA members getting ready to retire to join the VSEA Retirees’ Chapter to continue to be an active and engaged union member, even in retirement. Lefebvre also appeals to VSEA members to talk up the co-workers they know who might be preparing to retire. If you already belong to the Retired Members’ Chapter, a big thanks to you.
Learn More Here About The VSEA Retired Members’ Chapter |
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| What is the VSEA Advantage Program? |
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Did you know?
The average VSEA member can save hundreds of dollars a year by taking advantage of some of the Members Only benefits offered through their union!
GET EXCLUSIVE OFFERS, DISCOUNTS & MORE
It’s free, just for being a Vermont State Employees’ Association PerksConnect member!
Learn More!
Questions? Feel free to email
vsea@ vsea.org |
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Need To Update Your Contact Information
With VSEA?
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