UVM STAFF UNITED

Last Thursday, UVMSU members and union siblings from across the state spent the day in Montpelier advocating for our policy priorities as part of AFT Legislative Action Day. UVMSU combined forces with other public higher ed unions UA (UVM faculty), VSCFF (VTSU faculty), and VSCUP (VTSU staff) to galvanize support for bills S.292 and H.173, which would repeal the prohibition on striking for public higher ed workers in Vermont. Because workers are legally barred from striking, UVM and VTSU management have no incentive to bargain in good faith and reach timely agreements. Contracts at UVM and VTSU take approximately twice as long to settle as contracts at AFT-VT’s private sector locals that have the right to strike. These delays come at a large cost to taxpayer-funded institutional budgets, to workers’ abilities to make ends meet, and to workplace morale, turnover, and student support. Join us in telling our legislators to restore workers’ rights and encourage good-faith, timely bargaining at Vermont’s public colleges and universities.

Last Friday, UVMSU members joined other unions and community organizations in response to a call to support the people of Minneapolis as they face a violent and unprecedented federal occupation. Hundreds of staff, students, and faculty walked out of our offices, classrooms, and labs flooding the walkways and filling the street in front of the Waterman Building. We marched downtown, where we joined hundreds more of our neighbors, including workers who walked out of their businesses and high school students who walked out of school. Dozens of downtown Burlington businesses closed for at least part of the afternoon, and the speakers on the steps of City Hall ran the gamut from elected officials to migrant workers to high school students. A one-time event like a walk-out is a mass community action that demonstrates the fundamental truth of our society: our labor is what makes all our institutions function. If a large majority of us feel that something is so urgently and egregiously wrong with our society, we can choose to respond by withholding that labor. The act of peaceful nonparticipation–no work, no school, no shopping, as the slogan from Friday put it–has the effect of bringing us all together while freezing the churning gears of business as usual. It shows us how powerful we are when we act collectively.

UVM Staff United Statement on the Federal Occupation of Minneapolis and Popular Resistance

With today’s storm, we wanted to make sure that folks are familiar with Article 17 in our contract which deals with university closings and also applies to delayed openings. You can review the full article at uvmstaffunited.org/current-contract. As always, be in touch with your Area Stewards with any questions or concerns. Stay safe out there!

2025 was such a transformative year for our union! Here’s how:

Rally together to stand up for higher education! Campuses from across the U.S. are coming together to urge our universities to reject Trump’s Higher Ed Compact, and call on our institutions to protect academic freedom, public research, access to information, and diverse representation among students, research participants, faculty, and staff.

Our next Lunch & Learn will be about parental leave at UVM! If you have had a child while at UVM, are currently expecting, are planning to start a family while at UVM, or are just curious about how our contract protects your rights, join us on Wednesday October 15th from 12pm-1pm in Kalkin 007, or on Zoom at the same time. See our recent member emails for registration information. Lunch provided for in-person attendees!

Come join the captains, Ellen, Claire, Deidre, and Jack, to compete in a 4-team pub trivia challenge featuring categories like organized labor, music, film, history, general knowledge, and more! Help your team come out on top while meeting new colleagues, getting to know our union, and eating some delicious food. We’ll eat and mingle from 5-6 and then have trivia from 6-7:30. Please register using the link in our recent member emails and invite your colleagues to join you!

On September 15th from 12PM-1PM, UVM Staff United is hosting a presentation and discussion for our members with organizers from Vermont’s Apartheid Free Communities Campaign (AFC). This will be an informational session and discussion that will explore how this campaign intersects with working-class and union issues. Come join fellow members in Dewey Lounge (Old Mill 325) or virtually over Zoom. See our recent member emails for RSVP information. Light refreshments will be served!

Don’t Mourn, ORGANIZE! UVMSU members along with our union siblings from across Vermont came together to celebrate Labor Day with an epic march through the streets of Burlington followed by a rally and picnic in Battery Park. UVMSU Co-Presidents Claire Whitehouse and Ellen Kaye spoke at the rally, sharing the story of our recent dependents audit win. Claire said, “Even when our right to bargain is denied, we can force our employer to change course through collective pressure. Noncompliance and collective action are powerful. We won because half of the affected employees didn’t comply with the original plan for the audit. We won because our action strategy communicated clearly to the University and the broader community exactly why we weren’t complying...All of us are here today in solidarity with people all over this country to oppose this authoritarian takeover. To win, we need to “train the boss” together, just like our three unions are doing at UVM, just like unions have always done!”

UVMSU members: Come out to our first Lunch & Learn of the semester this Thursday (8/28) from 12-1 in Cohen Hall 101 or on Zoom to learn more about our two new committees focused on Mutual Aid & Assistance and Solidarity!

1-2-3-4 THE WORKERS ARE OUTSIDE YOUR DOOR! 5-6-7-8 PAUSE AND NEGOTIATE! Members from UE Local 267, United Academics, and UVM Staff United gathered on the steps of Waterman to demand that President Marlene Tromp pause the unsafe and unnecessary dependents audit and negotiate with our unions. During the rally, we conveyed our numerous concerns with the audit. One member captured many of them when they shared, “I am extremely concerned about any employee submitting personal and highly confidential information to a third party, particularly given the possibility of a data breach (again) or, in the current political climate, someone at WTW forcibly or willingly providing data for political reasons. What once seemed far-fetched and a conspiracy theory, is now reality. It is unclear to me how WTW will ensure data security, how and for how long our data and documents will be stored, and what will happen with our information if an employee or dependent no longer has insurance through UVM. I have zero trust in a third party. I am equally concerned about the safety of folks with marginalized identities whose lives could be significantly affected if their information is taken and misused. In particular, I am concerned for trans, NB, queer, and immigrant folks, and those in interracial marriages, to name a few.” After several powerful member testimonials, we marched inside Waterman to deliver a detailed survey report summarizing the 691 responses we received from staff and faculty to both UVM HR and President Tromp. While in the Executive wing, members also presented their own “attestations” certifying that their dependents are eligible for UVM insurance and participated in a speak out where still more members shared their concerns about the audit. We have asked President Tromp to pause the audit and meet with us next week. Should she refuse, we plan on being at Convocation on Sunday, 8/24 to welcome the incoming first year students and invite them to join us in calling on the administration to do better. Stay tuned for further details. Solidarity forever!

Strong turnout from students, staff and faculty at today’s Stop The Identity Centers’ Reorg action! Stay tuned for further actions…

Margot the union dog says our queer and trans students need specialized support! She thinks that reorganizing our campus identity centers into one conglomerate is complying in advance, and isn’t in our best interest. She stands (and sits) with our identity centers’ staff in pawlidarity! #vermontdogs #unionpower

Leadership at UVM has begun to reorganize and consolidate the work of the Identity Centers, jeopardizing their work. The Centers are core to supporting students, staff, and faculty of all identities and intersections on campus. The beginning of this reorganization was combining the Prism Center and the Women and Gender Equity Center to be programs under a “Prism Intercultural Center” and laying off a staff member in the Mosaic Center. In January, our union came together with the other campus unions and students to demand that UVM protect its most vulnerable, especially immigrant, queer, and trans community members, and community members of color. Yet instead of strengthening the campus offices that support marginalized students and workers, UVM is collapsing and confusing this work, at the same time as they compromise our data through the dependents audit. UVM wants the work of our identity centers to disappear quietly, with as few people knowing as possible. We must let them know this won’t happen. Join UVM Staff United on Wednesday, August 13th on the lawn outside the Alumni House Silver Pavilion (61 Summit St) from 12:30-1:30 pm. Wear your union shirt, bring lunch, and show UVM that the work of the Identity Centers matter, more so than ever. Having places of safety and community is more important than ever in a political and social climate that tries to divide us. Don’t let UVM take these spaces away from our students!

Wednesday, August 13th from 12:30-1:30PM- Stop the Identity Centers’ Reorg (UVM Alumni House Lawn, 61 Summit St) Leadership at UVM has started a reorganization and consolidation that threatens the vital work of the Identity Centers. -Wear your UVMSU shirt -Bring your lunch and your colleagues -Show UVM that the work of the Identity Centers is more important than ever! Thursday, August 14th at noon- Dependents Audit Rally (Waterman Steps) We will come together at Waterman, to share our concerns with the media and the broader community, and demand that UVM management pause the audit and negotiate its terms with our unions. Sunday, August 24th - Convocation (Howe Library Steps) If President Tromp declines to pause the audit and meet with our unions the week of the 18th, we will attend Convocation, as we have the past two years. Convocation offers an excellent opportunity to connect with incoming students (as well as Student Orientation employees) and invite them to join us in calling on the administration to do better.

Powerful to see so many UVMSU members participating in union shirt day yesterday! Our next action related to the dependents audit will be a rally next week on August 14th at noon outside Waterman. Let’s keep the momentum going!