UVM Staff United

Dear Members,

While our bargaining team is working hard to prepare a strong case for the fact finding hearing (see below for specifics), this week management also forced our Board to make a last-minute decision about healthcare. On Tuesday and Wednesday, HR met separately with our union, the faculty union, the maintenance union, and the police union to present long-overdue details about additional health insurance options and gave us three days to decide if these options should be offered to our members without bargaining.

Before sharing the specifics, we want to make sure to allay any concerns by saying: our health insurance is not changing, nor is the percentage of the premium that we pay. We know that a lot of us work at UVM because of the quality of the health insurance, and that is not at immediate risk.

Here’s the situation: HR officials called a meeting with our union this Tuesday morning, and with the other UVM unions on Wednesday. Co-Presidents Claire Whitehouse and Ellen Kaye, Co-Lead Stewards Jack Roberts and Kara Williams, and AFT Field Rep Max Tracy attended. At this meeting, HR informed us that they planned to offer 3 additional healthcare coverage options to non-represented staff during Open Enrollment (November 6 - 27). They handed us a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and told us that if we wanted these options made available to our bargaining unit we had to sign it by Friday–three days later. This MOA would force us to waive our right to negotiate the costs or details of coverage for these new options for the next year.

Visit the Member Information page to view the full PDF of this member update.

• Help our union build a case for fair wages

• AFT Convention Report

• Ask Solidarity Cat: Can contract enforcement get me a better wage?

• Election heads-up

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• Lunch is Not Enough: Fair Contract Now

• Events:

  • 2024 AFT Vermont Convention

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• 9/17 Staff Appreciation RSVP

• Work stoppages, and the fact-finding phase of our campaign

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• Bargaining Update: Where are we now?

• Survey on work stoppage

• Staff Appreciation Week

• UVMSU Tabling

• News & Updates

  • August Month of Action: UVMSU at Convocation

  • Palestine Survey

  • Kronos Implementation

  • Welcome new Local Stewards

  • Know Your Rights

• Events

  • AFT Vermont Convention, 9/21

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• Bargaining Update: new session 8/27

• August Month of Action

  • Convocation 8/25

• News & Updates

  • Student Move-In Action

  • CHWB Settlement

  • Kronos Implementation

  • Know Your Rights

• Volunteer Opportunities

  • Local Steward Training: Thursday 8/29

  • Area Stewards Wanted!

• Events

  • GSU Rally 8/27

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• Bargaining Update

• August Month of Action

  • All out for Practice Picket 8/15!

  • Student Move-in Volunteering 8/21

  • Convocation 8/25

• News & Updates

  • Budget Vote

  • Kronos Implementation

  • Know Your Rights

• Volunteer Opportunities

  • Help with HTML for dyslexia accessibility

  • Local Stewards and Area Stewards Wanted!

• Events

  • Vermont Primary Election is Tuesday August 13th

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• 8/8 Bargaining TODAY

• 8/15 Practice Picket

• 8/21 Student Move-In Volunteering

• 8/25 Convocation

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• August Month of Action

  • Bargaining (Mediation) 8/8

  • Practice Picket 8/15

  • Student Move-In Volunteering 8/21

  • Convocation 8/25

• News & Updates

  • Welcome to New Area Stewards

  • Last Day Vote on Budget

  • Vermont State Payroll Tax for Childcare

  • Kronos Implementation

  • Know Your Rights

• Volunteer Opportunities

  • Local Stewards and Area Stewards Wanted!

• Events

  • AFT-VT Get Out The Vote (GOTV) Phone bank 8/7

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• UVMSU Budget Meetings Today 7/25 at Noon and 7PM!

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• Bargaining Recap

• Next Steps: Impasse and Action

• 8/8 Mediation Zoon Registration

• UVMSU Budget Member Meetings This Week

• CHWB Rally

• Sign-up to be a Local Steward!

• Information for members dealing with recent flooding

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• 7/18 Bargaining Reminder

• 7/25 Member Meetings on UVMSU Budget

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• Bargaining on Thursday, July 18th

• Stand with our Center for Health and Wellbeing Colleagues! 7/15 CHWB Rally

• Department of Labor Ruling on Exempt and Non-Exempt Thresholds

• Kronos Developments

• Know your rights!

• Volunteer Opportunities

• Area Stewards Wanted!

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• Burlington in a union town!

• Stand with our Center for Health and Wellbeing Colleagues!

• Future Bargaining

• Changes from exempt to non-exempt effective July 1

• Know your rights!

• Volunteer Opportunities

• Area Stewards Wanted!

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• Bargaining update

• UVM’s got Top Talent!

• Stand with our Living Well Colleagues

• Know your rights!

• Sick Leave Bank Donation Alert

• Area Stewards Wanted!

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• Bargaining TODAY 6/20

• Work-in June 27th

• Support CHWB's Living Well Student Services Staff

Dear Members,

As many of you are now aware, our students have erected an anti-war encampment on the UVM campus in response to the ongoing crisis in Gaza and the decision to invite Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. representative to the United Nations who has cast our country's official ‘no’ votes in opposition of ceasefire, to campus as a commencement speaker. This morning, the students reached out to our union to request our solidarity…

Introduction:

Previously, UVM administration prevented supervisors and employees from considering job complexity when determining pay at UVM. UVM Staff United continues to hold that UVM was always able to consider job complexity in salary justifications and that our contract never prohibited anyone from doing so. Now, the new complexity side-letter agreement upholds our reading of the contract…