UVM STAFF UNITED

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!