VSEA Labor Relations Director's Update On Status Of
COVID-19 Agreement 

• ​​Families First Coronavirus Relief Act;
   
• Emergency Paid Sick Leave;
   
• Expanded Family Medical Leave, and 
   
• Your Unit Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Pay Act Clears First Hurdle In Legislative Process

Members of the House Government Operations Committee voted 7-3-1 Tuesday to act on a motion made by Rep. Bob Hooper (pictured here, leaning forward) to move the Pay Act out of committee favorably.

The Act, which funds state employees' negotiated pay increase, now moves to the House Appropriations Committee. If passed there, it then goes to the House floor for debate and a vote.

What Is The "Pay Act"

If you're unsure what the Pay Act is exactly, here's a quick primer:

Every two years, legislation called the Pay Act is introduced to determine what level of funding the collective bargaining agreements between VSEA and the State receive. This bill begins its journey in the House Government Operations Committee. The Act is one of VSEA’s top legislative priorities each biennium. While the State is legally obligated to honor any contracts negotiated with the Union, the legislature has been known to underfund these agreements and ask departments and agencies to use vacancy savings to make up the difference – this is commonly referred to as “eating the Pay Act.” In a utopian world, departments and agencies could absorb these costs by leaving positions unfilled throughout state government, but the recession(s), pandemic, etc., means these savings are in short supply.

VSEA 2020 Scholarship Winners! 

COVID-19 Crisis Cancels Annual Luncheon To Celebrate Winners

The COVID-19 crisis forced the VSEA Council to cancel its most recent meeting at Castleton University. Sadly, this is the meeting each year where the Council hosts a special luncheon to honor the winners of a VSEA scholarship, presenting each winner with a check, certificate and some VSEA-themed items. More important, the luncheon is an opportunity for the Council and members of VSEA's Awards and Scholarships Committee, who selected the winners, to personally applaud each, as well as their accomplishments and future goals. But not to be this year, like so many things.

Congratulations to this year's VSEA 2020 Scholarship winners, who are in alphabetical order:

Taylor Abbott

Taylor is the daughter of VSEA member Karen Abbott; a Grants Manager with the Agency of Education. Taylor has already been accepted to three universities, including Castleton, where she will be pursuing a bachelor's degree in science, eventually wanting to enter the field of nursing as a registered nurse. Taylor writes in her scholarship essay:

"With all that is going on in the world right now, the need for nurses has never been more apparent. Healthcare worker are selflessly dedicating their lives to help those affected by COVID-19. Their commitment has reassured my desire and need to become a nurse. After graduation in 2022, my goal is to work as a Registered Nurse here in Vermont. Doing this will allow me to give back to the community that raised me." 

Meghan Rae Curran

Meghan is the daughter of VSEA member Thomas Curran; an Investigator Supervisor with the Vermont Department of Liquor and Lottery's Enforcement Division. Meghan is currently enrolled at the Universities of Vermont, where she is pursuing a bachelor's degree in science, eventually wanting to enter the field of nursing as a registered nurse. Jaden writes in her scholarship ​essay:

"My time volunteering at (Rutland Regional Medical Center) has made me passionate about patient care and has opened my eyes to a wide variety of opportunities I can pursue in the healthcare field. ​I have had so many interactions with nurses, and seeing how passionate they are has influenced me to receive my BSN-RN degree. I hope to become an emergency room travel nurse."

Nicholas Daigle

Nicholas is an active VSEA member who works as a Probation Officer with the Department of Corrections. Nicholas has been attending the Community College of Vermont, and he will hopefully soon begin studies at Northern Vermont University, where he will pursue a degree in psychology. Timothy writes in his scholarship essay: ​

"I have worked for the Vermont Department of Corrections since I was 17 years old. I started my career as a temporary correctional officer in Rutland. I eventually was given a full-time correctional officer position. I was later promoted to a correctional officer 2, then a community corrections officer, and most recently a probation officer. Ultimately, my goal will be to obtain my masters in psychology to better assist the population I serve." 

Jaden Emily Sanborn

Jaden is the daughter of VSEA member Nicholas Burnham; a Work Crew Leader with the Department of Corrections. Jaden is currently enrolled at Paul Smith's College, where she is pursuing a degree in disaster management and response. Jaden writes in her scholarship ​essay:

"When I first began the transfer process to Paul Smith’s College, I intended on studying forestry once again, but in the same week that I applied they released a brand-new major called Disaster Management and Response. Something inside me immediately lit up and I knew that this was the career path that I was intended to take. As some people say it takes a certain kind of person to run into danger while others are typically running away, and I feel that I am one of those people who can step up in order to ensure the safety of those around me.​"

Two Reports Issued On Funding Required For Continued VSC Operation

Testing Finds No New Cases Of COVID-19 In Vermont's Prisons--Staff Or Inmates

VSEA is welcoming news this week that at the last of six prisons in Vermont to undergo mass testing of inmates and staff, which was Southern State, there were no new cases of COVID-19 found.

Vermont's other five correctional facilities had previously undergone mass testing of staff and inmates at a rate of one prison a week. That earlier mass testing at four of those prisons — Northern State in Newport, Chittenden Regional in South Burlington, Marble Valley Regional in Rutland, and Northeast Correctional Complex in St. Johnsbury — also revealed no positive tests for Covid-19 among the inmates or staff.

VTDigger: Vermont's Prisons Appear To Be COVID Free

Contract Extension Ballots Out To State Colleges' Unit Members

Extension discussions were prompted by the COVID-19 crisis, as well as the chaos created by ex-Chancellor Jeb Spaulding's recent, ill-advised proposal to shutter three VSC campuses. 

Class-Action
RFR Requests Due To VSEA
By July 1!

• Tell VSEA by July 1; and
• Submit paperwork to VSEA by August 1

New "Purchasing Power" Benefit Offered To VSEA Members

In times when paying with cash or credit is challenging, Purchasing Power is here for you with a program you can trust. Get what you need now, and pay overtime – right from your paycheck.​

View the Program PDF
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or device.

AFSCME Burlington City Workers Stage Picket

Hundreds of union members and their supporters staged a car picket around Burlington City Hall on Tuesday to protest the Mayor's demand for city employees, including essential workers, to open their contracts to discuss economic concessions, or face layoffs. The workers are members of AFSCME Local 1343. 

"It's all about essential staffing, It's about not opening up contracts, it's about not laying off," AFSCME Local 1343 President Damion Gilbert says in a WCAX story about the picket. "We feel that Vermont, Burlington -- they've laid off enough people." He adds in a WPTZ story, "We’re really working hard and doing our part. We really didn’t feel that it was necessarily fair to even open up the contract and take any increases away."

VTDigger: At Rooftop Rally, Unions Call On Burlington Mayor To Not Cut Jobs

Photo: VTDigger

EPI Issues Bleak Jobs Forecast If States Don't Receive Federal Funding 

• If policymakers do nothing at the federal level to address these shortfalls, the United States could end 2021 with 5.3 million fewer jobs, with losses in every state;
   
• Further, if Congress passes some level of aid that is insufficient—less than $1 trillion—they will needlessly guarantee a significant job gap by the end of 2021;
   
  • If they pass $500 billion of aid over that time, the jobs gap will likely be roughly 2.6 million. If they pass $300 billion of aid, the jobs gap will likely be roughly 3.7 million.
     
• While empirical estimates of the shortfall should guide policymakers’ thinking, they can (and actually should) avoid putting a firm sticker price on state and local aid by tying this aid to economic conditions. If the economy recovers faster than the forecasts driving the $1 trillion estimated shortfall indicate will happen, then less aid would be needed. If instead recovery lagged, more would be needed; and
   
• Filling in the estimated shortfalls would merely return state and local governments to their pre-crisis fiscal status quo. But the unique features of the current economic shock will put greater demands on public services than existed before the crisis. To go beyond macroeconomic stabilization and promote the general welfare, even more federal aid to these governments is likely needed.

North Carolina Nurses Prepare For Historic Vote To Unionize

Labor Notes and Facing South recently post a story about nurses at the Mission Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, preparing for an "historic" vote for unionization in in the country’s second least unionized state.

“If it happens in North Carolina, it can happen anywhere,” says Trish Stevenson, an emergency room nurse at Mission.

The union drive pits workers against HCA Healthcare, the nation’s largest hospital corporation with 184 hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom. In February 2019, HCA paid $1.5 billion for Mission and six other nonprofit hospitals in the bucolic mountains of western North Carolina.

NNU currently represents about 10,000 nurses at 19 HCA facilities across the country. The union drive at Mission is NNU’s largest campaign ever undertaken in North Carolina.