State’s Budget Address Presents New Challenges And Fights For VSEA Members

The State’s top official delivered his final budget address on January 21, and while state services were not one of the primary items on this year’s proposed budget-cuts menu, some services were, sadly, still targeted to be cut, including:

• The work camp at the St. Johnsbury Correctional Facility;
• The field offices of the DOC’s Community High School of Vermont program; and
• Positions within DVHA’s Health Access Eligibility Unit (VSEA is trying to determine if the positions are vacant).

According to VSEA Strategic Analyst Adam Norton, the cuts being proposed would impact some 59 workers.

VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard sent a message last night to workers at the St. Johnsbury Work Camp, which read, in part:

“Like you, your Union is not happy with the [State’s] announcement in today’s Budget Address that [it] is proposing to generate savings by closing your facility,” and “Be advised that your Union will be putting all the resources possible into a campaign to help workers combat this ill-advised proposal. This is not the first time VSEA members at the Work Camp have faced this prospect, and, working together, we will fight hard to achieve a similar outcome and keep your facility open again.”

VSEA will also be talking soon with its members working at the Community High School, who just got done defending their service to lawmakers last session, and to any impacted HAEU workers. VSEA Communications Director Doug Gibson notes that a story just broke this week on VPR about the customer backlog at Vermont Health Connect (which is staffed by HAEU workers) rising to 3,000 due to what Blue Cross described as “technological shortcomings.” The State’s Chief of Health Care Reform, Lawrence Miller, laments the new backlog but says he “anticipates” a needed software update will be “online within weeks” and should help alleviate the backlog. Remains to be seen.

WIA will keep readers updated on any and all upcoming efforts to combat the service and position cuts being proposed and let VSEA members know how you can participate or show solidarity.

On the upside in the budget address, the State followed through on its promise to request money for 35 additional DCF positions and allocated $2 million to provide workplace security enhancements in DCF, Courthouses and other state offices across Vermont.

State Of Vermont Sends Warning To All State Employees About Recent Phishing Scam!

The State of Vermont’s DHR and DII Commissioners issued a joint statement to all employees this afternoon, warning of a phishing scam targeting state employees.

It reads, in part:

Alerted To Risk Of Being Privatized, VSEA Members Make Case Against The Proposal To Lawmakers

WIA informed readers just before the holidays about a group of nine state employees working in the State’s Risk Management Division who have real concerns after recently learning that management was actively shopping a formal proposal to privatize their service. They promised to take action, and half a dozen did, coming the State House early in the session to testify to the Senate Government Operations Committee about all the reasons this service should remain public and why it’s “risky” for it to be contracted to an out-of-state, for-profit firm. The reasons the employees gave in their defense include:

• They represent more than 100 years of combined and specialized knowledge;
• They the ones helping state employees get back to work after suffering a work illness or injury;
• They are “Vermonters serving Vermonters,” and they know the people they serve;
• They know state worksites and the nature of state employee work, across the board; and
• They understand the system’s challenges and how best to navigate them.

The workers added that they have worked hard recently to streamline the claims process and “smooth out the bumps.” They also stressed that when state employees contact their office, they are talking with a fellow state employee and not some person representing a private company that may not even be based in Vermont.

In addition to fighting at the State House, the workers are in the process of trying to schedule a second meeting with the Department of Human Resources to talk about alternatives to privatization.

VSEA continues to help the Risk Management workers make their very strong case against privatization, and will for as long as it takes.

VSEA members who are talking with lawmakers are asked to please make a personal pitch to protect this important division of state government. The workers’ situation will also be a focus of VSEA’s State House Day, which is scheduled for February 25.

WIA will keep readers updated on how you can help the Risk Management workers protect their service.

Has A Risk Management, Workers Compensation or Liability and Safety Worker Helped You?

Risk Management, Workers’ Compensation and Liability and Safety employees are asking any VSEA member who has been helped by a worker in the division to please share your story with them. The more stories collected, the better, and the accounts don’t have to be long and detailed, just a quick overview of your positive experience with the service. Thanks in advance for your help. Send your story to vsea@vsea.org and write “RM Story” in the subject line.

Deadline To Submit Bylaw Changes Is March 25!

The deadline to submit proposals for changes to VSEA’s Master Bylaws is Friday, March 25, 2016. Proposals must be mailed to: Janis Henderson, Bylaws Committee Chair, c/o VSEA Headquarters, P.O. Box 518, Montpelier, VT 05601-0518.

Proposals should reference the number, section, sub-section, etc. of the bylaw you would like to change. You should also include the language you want to add, delete or substitute. Also include the reason(s) you are making this proposal. Example: “Bylaw 0 A (1) (b) Change: Monday to Sunday. Reason: Makes it easier to work with the calendar.”

Please be sure the changes you are recommending include all Articles and/or Bylaws that may be affected by the proposed change.

If you have questions, please contact Janis at jhenderson@vsea.org.

Safety Survey Wrapping Up

VSEA thanks the 784 members who have already completed the workplace safety survey your union recently issued. Your answers will help VSEA gather the kind of first-hand information members, leaders and staff need to enhance state employees’ request to lawmakers to adopt and fund increased security measures in this year’s session.

VSEA is leaving the survey open over the weekend, so if you have not completed it, but still want to, please click on the button below.

Take the survey here!

VSEA Vets’ Home Nursing Staff Urged To Complete Online Survey

VSEA nursing staff working at the Vermont Veterans’ Home are being urged to complete an online survey about your current working conditions.

You can access the survey here!

VSEA Legislative Committee Schedules Series Of Dinner Receptions For Legislators To Meet With Workers About Specific Issues

VSEA Legislative Committee members were at the State House this week to deliver postcards to all lawmakers, inviting them to attend one or more of a series of upcoming dinner receptions with frontline workers to discuss the following issues:

• Staffing – January 27;
• Privatization – January 28
• Temporary Workers – February 3
• Security – February 4

All VSEA members are invited to attend one or more of the dinner reception, which are being held at VSEA headquarters in Montpelier, beginning at 5:30 p.m. and ending at 7:00 p.m.

If you are interested in attending a reception(s), please RSVP to:

Danielle Warner
Phone: 223-5247
Email: legintern@vsea.org

New AFL-CIO Report Shows Unions Doing Well At Bargaining Table In 2015. However…

While VSEA Bargaining Team members, representing the Non-Management, Corrections and Supervisory Units, wait to see what is included in a report to be issued in the next few weeks by a fact finder, Politico reports this week that, according to a new report by the AFL-CIO, “unions bargaining new contracts in the first three quarters of 2015 did pretty well.”

“Using data from a Bloomberg BNA analysis of contract settlements, the federation said that new contracts provided a weighted-average first-year raise of four percent (including lump sum payments), an increase from the 2.9 percent increase in 2014. ‘The final 2015 weighted average first-year wage increase could surpass 4.2 percent, the highest weighted average since 2001,’” the report said.

“Vermont state employees would like to be added to this year’s bargaining statistics in a positive way, but it’s anybody’s guess right now what recommendations the fact finder will make or how both parties will respond to the recommendations,” one Bargaining Team member tells WIA.

View the AFL-CIO’s full report here.

Your Bargaining Team members can provide you with updates on the status of negotiations. Also if you have immediate questions or comments, please contact one of your Team representatives.

Threatened While On The Job? VSEA Wants To Know.

VSEA President Dave Bellini is asking all state employees who are threatened while performing your job duties to provide an account of the threat not only to your supervisor or the State, but also to VSEA.

“VSEA wants to begin to compile its own record of threats against frontline state employees, no matter your occupation,” explains Bellini. “I’m asking all employees who are threatened, especially those working in AHS, to take a few minutes to fill out an online form VSEA made to collect your report. The information will help us provide a firsthand account of the number of threats being made and where they are being made, in addition to some other things.”

If you are a state employee who is threatened on the job, please click here to find the online report form, which will remain confidential, unless otherwise approved by you.

VSEA On-The-Job Threat Report Form

AOE Employee Suing State, Claiming She Was Retaliated Against For Whistleblowing

VSEA members will hopefully remember your union’s campaign in 2014 to provide better protection to VSEA members and others who want to blow the whistle on fraud, waste and corruption in government. At the time VSEA member John Howe was engaged in a difficult struggle due to his own whistleblowing activity, and his story—as well as other state employee’s stories—helped bolster lawmaker support for a bill being put forward by the Auditor’s office to provide anonymity to whistleblowers.

Legislators ended up passing the bill, and it was signed in May 2014. VSEA issued a statement shortly after the signing that read, in part: “This bill is especially important right now, as VSEA assists union member and leader John Howe in his campaign to end retaliation against state employees who blow the whistle on waste, fraud, poor management practices and corruption. John is fighting this battle not for him, but for all state employees and working Vermonters who want to speak out without fear of retaliation. Hopefully, the bill’s new anonymity protection will encourage more and more state employees to be like John and speak out about waste, fraud and corruption, especially if the waste, fraud and corruption is costing Vermont taxpayers hundreds, thousands or millions of dollars.

Fast-forward to January 15, 2016, and the Burlington Free Press is publishing a story about another state employee who alleges she was fired for trying to report “problems with federally funded contracts at the Agency of Education” and the way some money was being dispensed. “This is federal money. You can’t just hand out federal money,” fired AOE employee Jacqui Carlomagno tells the paper, when explaining the circumstances she believes led to her termination. The State tells the paper Carlomagno was fired due to “poor work habits, insubordination and slow performance;” all allegations she disputes.

Frustrated at her treatment by management, Carlomagno went directly to the Auditor’s office with her allegations and, according to the Auditor, another AOE employee had also come to his office with similar allegations around the same time, but this employee, unlike Carlomagno, chose to remain anonymous. The employees’ allegations were solid enough to spark an investigation by the Auditor’s office, and, as also reported recently in WIA, the AOE’s contracting practices were found to be problematic, with the Auditor telling the paper, “Like many other departments, they’re just a little loose with the process.” The State is disputing that the Auditor’s findings lend any credibility to Carlomagno’s claims, but she says she feels vindicated by what the Auditor uncovered.

The AOE is promising to run a tighter ship when it comes to contracting practices, but that doesn’t help the now-fired Carelomagno, who tells the BFP she remains unemployed and that losing her job has taken “an emotional and financial toll.” She is currently suing the State in Washington Superior Court, and WIA will keep readers updated on the progress of Carlomagno’s lawsuit.

Note: Ms. Carlomagno is a VSEA member. She opted to bring her lawsuit through outside counsel in the courts because of the particular facts of her case, but VSEA has been in contact with her and her attorney at various times. We are all rooting her on, and hope that any manager found to have violated her rights is held accountable.

VSEA P&P Members Asking Colleagues To Sign A Petition To Enhance On-The-Job Safety

A group of VSEA Probation and Parole (P&P) is working hard to procure 75% of their colleagues’ signatures on a petition to enhance their personal safety while on the job, and they are close to reaching their goal. The workers asked WIA to publish an appeal to P&P workers in offices across the state to sign the petition, and we’re happy to help.

The VSEA P&P members want to especially reach out to workers in the Burlington (33% currently signed), Newport (0%), Rutland (35% currently signed) and St. Johnsbury (25% currently signed) offices to increase the number of petition signatures to help meet the goal. Other P&P offices have collected 70 percent (on average) of their respective office’s workers’ signatures on the petition since the effort launched.

An email with a copy of the petition-for-signature attached was sent to all active P&P members on January 21.

The P&P workers’ petition reads:

“We are Probation and Parole staff committed to the mission of the Vermont Department of Corrections to “support safe communities by providing leadership” and “ensuring offender accountability for criminal acts and managing the risk posed by offenders.”

With the increase in criminal activity and the negative impact of drug abuse in our communities, we are concerned for our safety to carry out this mission and our assigned job duties. A key aspect of our job is to assist in the rehabilitation of offenders by working with them in their homes, worksites and community. Our training and skill set to have situational awareness in these interactions make us concerned for our own safety and the safety of others.

We request that the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections exercise your legal right to certify Probation and Parole Officers, Community Correctional Officers and Casework Program Supervisors as Law Enforcement Officers and give us the option to carry a firearm as we perform our job duties. This includes training and certification with the Vermont Criminal Justice Training Council and the development of standard operating procedures and work rules.

We request you work with us—the frontline workers—to develop a plan that gives us the option to carry a firearm so we can do our jobs in a safe, effective and productive manner. We have extensive experience and policies which we can use to develop this plan, including other DOC and State of Vermont Employees who carry firearms, and a majority of Probation and Parole Officers in other states. We formally ask to that you meet with Probation and Parole Officers and representatives of our Union—the Vermont State Employees Association—to discuss and develop a plan to make this happen.”

VSEA P&P members remind that they are only seeking the option to enhance their personal safety, on an employee-by-employee basis, which is a choice they say their federal counterparts operating here in Vermont currently have.

VSEA Sends Get Well Wishes To Retiree Bernie Peters

VSEA is sending get well wishes to longtime VSEA activist, now retiree and one-time? gubernatorial candidate, Bernie Peters, who was recently rushed to the hospital after a blood vessel ruptured in his head while he was out working in the woods. Thankfully, Peters was able to get himself back to his house and then to the hospital for treatment. But he remains in intensive care and will be in the hospital for the foreseeable future.

“Bernie Peters was a longtime employee of AOT and very active in VSEA,” VSEA Retirees’ Chapter President Joanie Maclay tells WIA. “Bernie is now a well-respected member of the Chapter’s Board, and ee miss him and his dry sense of humor. Bernie’s an honest man who always tries to do what is right for members.” She added, “We were looking forward to you running to be Vermont governor again, but this little bump in the road happened.”

VSEA headquarters sent a get-well card to Bernie, and VSEA members and retirees who know him are urged to do the same. According to Bernie’s wife, he really enjoys looking at the cards he’s already received. To reach Bernie, send your message/card/other to:

Bernard Peters
ICU South
Dartmouth-Hitchcock
Lebanon, N.H.

VSEA Labor Educator Announces Winter/Spring 2016 Training Schedule

VSEA Labor Educator Tim Lenoch asked WIA to announce a new round of trainings he has scheduled for winter/spring 2016. If you are interested in registering to attend one or more trainings, you can do so by clicking here. Please direct your training questions to Tim at tlenoch@vsea.org.

Trainings in blue are for all members.

Steward Training: Chittenden & Lamoille County
Thursday, February 11
DVHA Conference Room
312 Hurricane Lane, Suite 201
Williston

Steward Training: Supervisory Unit
Wednesday, February 17
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward 1: Introduction & The Basics
Friday, March 4
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: Health Care Facilities
Wednesday, March 9
VTrans District Office,
61 Valley View
Mendon (five miles east of Rutland)

Steward 2: Protecting The Contract & Building The Union
Friday, March 18
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The “Hostile Work Environment”
Wednesday, March 23
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward 3: The Contract & Challenges in the Workplace
Friday, March 25
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: Investigations & Working With Human Resources
Wednesday, March 30
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: Corrections Unit
Wednesday, April 6
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The Grievance
Wednesday, April 13
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Steward Training: The Labor/Management Committee
Friday, April 15
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Diversity & Solidarity For Public Sector Union Members
Friday, April 22
VTrans Training Center
1716 U.S. Route 302
Berlin

Register for trainings here!