VSEA Judiciary Unit Leader Margaret Crowley Appointed New VSEA First Vice President!
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The recent election of Aimee Towne to be VSEA's new President left a vacancy in the First Vice President position, but, this week, the VSEA Board voted to appoint longtime activist and former VSEA Judiciary Unit Chair Margaret Crowley to the post.
"Margaret is a great addition to the VSEA leadership team, and I know she'll work hard for VSEA members, just like she has for Judiciary members for so many years," said VSEA President Aimee Towne. "I welcome Margaret's knowledge and expertise, and I look forward to helping her transition into her new role as First Vice President."
Towne noted that Crowley hit the ground running today, when she gaveled in to chair her first VSEA Council meeting; a duty assigned to the VSEA First Vice President.
In addition to being VSEA's new First Vice President, Crowley also chairs the union's Legislative Committee and remains very active in her Unit.
Note: VSEA congratulates Margaret!
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Date Change!
The VSEA Board of Trustees meeting scheduled for Tuesday, March 2, is being moved to Monday, March 1, to allow members to attend their town meeting. As is practice now, this Board meeting will include a designated time for public comment or questions from members.
Please make a note of this date change.
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Worries COVID Could Cause Vermont Snow Plow Operator Shortage
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VTDigger published a story this week about growing concerns at both the state and local levels about COVID causing a plow driver shortage, just as the snow is about to fly.
From the story:
Normally, the department has 1.2 to 1.3 operators per truck, a total of about 350 drivers spread among garages across the state. That ratio means there’s not a lot of wiggle room for drivers to be out sick, [AOT Maintenance Director Todd] Law said.
The agency has been hunting up people with commercial driver’s licenses from other departments and garages to fill gaps if needed, Law said. He said the agency is working to get more drivers CDL-certified and to find smaller trucks that fill-in drivers could handle without the special license.
“Even with that, with the absences we’re anticipating, we may not be able to fill all our trucks,” he said.
Note: VSEA is monitoring the situation closely, talking with its AOT members regularly to identify any health concerns, while also ensuring AOT plow drivers are provided with the resources they need to operate safely.
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State Paints Bleak Budget Picture For Lawmakers
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VSEA representatives tuned into yesterday's Joint Fiscal Committee meeting, and the reports they heard are ominous. State economic officials are warning lawmakers that Vermont is looking at as much as $200 million in revenue shortfalls in the fiscal 2022 budget.
From a Brattleboro Reformer story this morning about the hearing:
While tax revenues are running ahead of projections — which were adjusted in August to reflect a $180 million likely shortfall — the state faces significant fixed costs in its next spending plan. These include a $58 million Education Fund deficit for fiscal 2021 that must be resolved, significant increases in pension fund contributions, negotiated pay raises, and bridge funding and capital improvements for the Vermont State Colleges System.
Overall, between losses of revenue and cost increases, budget writers could be facing a gap of between $180 million and $200 million, Maria Belliveau, a Joint Fiscal Office analyst, told lawmakers. The [State] has instructed its departments to prepare level-funded spending plans as well as plans allowing increases of between 1 percent and 3 percent.
“The good news is actual revenue collections are $50 million to 60 million above the August forecast,” Belliveau said. “Although this is encouraging, we have a long way to go.”
Additional positive developments, aside from a widely distributed vaccine, could include additional aid from Congress, continued increases in Medicaid reimbursements — as of now worth $22 million to the state every three months — and continued growth in tax revenue. The Legislature also has access to more than $200 million in “rainy day” funds, Belliveau and other analysts said.
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VSEA Corrections Unit Members Launch Phase 5 Of Campaign For Hazard Pay
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The fifth packet of Corrections member testimonials, focused on employee burnout, were sent this past Monday to the Administration.
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Last week, VSEA Corrections Unit members sent a fourth batch of personal worker appeals to the Governor; a continuation of a weeks-long VSEA Corrections Unit members' campaign for hazard pay. Each week's batch of campaign testimonials focuses on a different organic theme, derived from hundreds of member testimonials submitted to VSEA to educate the Scott Administration on how its decision to end hazard pay is causing harm to Corrections' employees.
This week's fifth batch of testimonials is to personally let the Governor know how far hazard pay could go to help lessen the employee burnout being caused by the additional job stress created by the COVID pandemic. This week's testimonials reinforce why these workers deserve hazard pay for their stress and sacrifice.
Example:
“Everyone is burned out, employees and inmates alike, and there’s no end in sight to the extra duties and restrictions. Staffing is critically short, and the facility is barely running in a safe manner. Exhausted staff, unsafe working conditions and staff quitting in droves. Morale is in the basement, with no acknowledgement from anyone in the chain of command about our extra efforts. And no hazard pay. This while Central Office staff work from home with no masks, comfy as could be, just dumping and piling extra work on the facilities.”
VSEA is pleased to share these additional excerpts from the fifth batch of CO testimonials that were sent to the State this week.
VSEA invites members and retirees to help VSEA’s COs get their hazard pay reinstated by sharing these worker stories with your colleagues, family, friends, and neighbors. You can also call the Governor’s Office and lobby our local lawmakers to step up.
VSEA members, retirees, and members of the public are urged to check VSEA.org or VSEA's social media pages weekly to view the latest batch of VSEA Corrections Unit members’ testimonials being sent to the State and to receive campaign updates. Thanks!
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Health Department Members Launch Campaign For Hazard Pay
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VSEA members working at the Department of Health have begun a campaign similar to the one being conducted by VSEA Corrections members, soliciting members' written "applications for hazard pay" and then passing them along to the Governor's office.
Health Department members with a question about the application process can contact VSEA Organizer Danielle Warner at dwarner@vsea.org.
Note: Similar campaigns are also just getting started by workers at the Vermont Veterans Home and at the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital.
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Coming Soon! 2021 VSEA Legislative Priorities
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The VSEA Board of Trustees and the VSEA Council reviewed the VSEA Legislative Committee's recommendations for the union's 2021 legislative priorities this week, and they are now debating the identified priorities. Once the list is approved and finalized, WIA will be sharing the priorities with members and retirees.
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VSEA Insurance Representative's Updated Available Benefits Flyer
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Long time VSEA Insurance Representative Joanne Woodcock has published an updated flyer, listing the benefits available to VSEA members. VSEA Chapters will periodically be provided with a flyer, including updated information, as warranted.
View Updated Insurance Flyer
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Quote Of The Week!
"I encourage people to disagree with me and I’ll defend my actions, but to attack civil servants who every day go above and beyond to ensure a fair, free and accessible election, while putting themselves at a high risk of exposure — they don’t deserve that.”
Vermont Secretary of State (SOS) Jim Condos, commenting this week in a VTDigger story about disturbing post-election threats being made against employees working for the SOS elections team. |
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Non-VSEA specific stories that may be of interest to VSEA members.
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Frontline Kaiser Workers Will Hold National Day of Actions to Honor Healthcare Heroes
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StreetInsider.com posted a story this week about frontline workers at Kaiser Permanente health care facilities in multiple states scheduling a day of action to honor health care heroes on Thursday, December 10.
From the post:
As an essential part of the nation's response to the out-of-control health crisis, many Kaiser workers have been exposed to or infected by the coronavirus, and some have made the ultimate sacrifice with their lives. Meanwhile, Kaiser has made billions in profits and has a long list of executives--many of whom are working safely from their homes or offices--that are making over a million dollars a year each in total compensation.
"In the lab we're processing COVID samples and seeing hundreds of patients a day," said Paula Coleman, a clinical laboratory assistant at Kaiser Permanente Englewood Medical Offices in Colorado and a member of SEIU Local 105. "We take great pride in our work, and we love our patients with all of our hearts. But we also have a feeling of dread as we put our lives on the line every day during the pandemic. Administrators seem to have forgotten that we're the backbone of Kaiser, from the lab to nurses, nursing assistants, techs, environmental services, dietary workers and clerks. We're the ones in the trenches doing the jobs no one else wants to do. We need management to recognize and acknowledge that in order for Kaiser to thrive, frontline workers and our families must thrive as well."
The actions will take place throughout California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Washington State. In Oregon and D.C., frontline workers will be holding illuminated signs that say "Honor Kaiser Heroes" during evening actions in front of Kaiser facilities. In other states, caregivers will be having a simultaneous nationwide moment of silence and creating memorials to fallen colleagues.
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Amazon Workers Look To Unionize
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Lots of recent press about an organizing drive at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, where the retail giant (as expected) is fighting the will of its workers tooth and nail.
From a recent post to the Daily Caller:
The notice of a vote to form a union, which was filed on Friday, laid the groundwork for what is likely going to be a bitter battle between workers who favor unionization and Amazon, which has opposed past attempts to unionize its workforce, according to The Washington Post. If successful, the roughly 1,500 workers based in the Bessemer, Alabama facility would be members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
“Having a union at Amazon would give us the right to collectively bargain over our working conditions including items such as safety standards, training, breaks, pay, benefits, and other important issues that would make our workplace better,” a RWDSU website for the effort said. “Amazon sometimes addresses issues at work but it’s all temporary.”
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Thank you for reading Week In Action!
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View Executive Branch Unit Contracts on VSEA.org
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A reminder that the current contracts for all VSEA Executive Branch Units are posted to the Department of Human Resources and VSEA's websites and VSEA.org.
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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
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VSEA Retirement Security Fact Sheet
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Did you know? Defined benefit plans are safer and more reliable for Vermont's retirees & are cheaper for taxpayers than risky, Wall St 401(k)-style plans. Learn more about the differences between defined benefit pension plans and defined contribution pension plans (a.k.a. 401K) here.
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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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VSEA Advantage Discount 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 Member-Only benefits offered through your union?
Learn more about the VSEA Advantage Discount Program
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Need To Update Your Contact Information
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