UVM STAFF UNITED

2026 Labor Notes Conference - Watch the virtual sessions here!

WHO WE ARE:

UVM Staff United is the clerical, specialized, technical and professional staff at UVM. Together, as UVM Staff United, we are organizing for collective power to bargain wages, benefits and working conditions, and for equity, transparency, justice and respect at UVM.

EVENTS SCHEDULE

SAVE THE DATE! SUMMER SOCIAL
Friday, July 24th 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Location: Upper Shelter Oakledge Park, 11 Flynn Ave. Burlington, VT
The UVMSU Social / Education Committee invites you to our first ever summer social. We are offering this social to welcome all of the new colleagues who became part of our union, and to recognize the great work of all of our members in the last calendar year. Our union’s socials are a great way to build community outside of your immediate co-workers. Come meet our new colleagues and connect with your union for a fun outdoor event at Oakledge Park. Partners and families welcome! Food and soft drinks will be provided! RSVP Here!

PRIDE! UVMSU MOVIE NIGHT
Tuesday, August 18th 5:30 PM (run time 2 hours)
Location: PartizanFilm!
The UVMSU Social & Education Committee is pleased to announce our first labor film screening. From the filmmakers: "PRIDE is inspired by an extraordinary true story. It’s the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers’ families. Initially rebuffed by the Union, the group identifies a tiny mining village in Wales and sets off to make their donation in person. As the strike drags on, the two groups discover that standing together makes for the strongest union of all." RSVP Here!

More events coming soon!
Location: TBD
More details to come.

Stay up to date on UVM Staff United by reading our member newsletter, attending member meetings, and following us on Instagram.

Don’t miss your chance to join the bargaining team! The nominations period closes at the end of May, so now’s the time to throw your hat (or that of a coworker) into the ring. See the member email for a link to the nominations form.

May has been a busy month! If you’ve been meaning to take the bargaining survey but juuuuust haven’t gotten to it, now’s the time! The survey remains open till the end of next week. We want everyone in our union to have an opportunity to shape our priorities at the bargaining table. See the member email for the survey link.

Take the bargaining survey now to help determine what protections and improvements to benefits we should push for in our next contract! See the member email for information and a link to take the survey.

Looking for ways to improve wages, benefits, and conditions for you and your coworkers? Wondering what to do with all those good ideas you have about how to make UVM run better? Then join the bargaining team as we gear up for contract negotiations this fall! See the member email for information and a link to the nominations form.

What takes less time than cleaning the fridge, folding laundry, or waiting in line for overpriced coffee? Completing the bargaining survey! It’s a whole lot more fun than any of those tasks, and it’ll help shape what our wages, working conditions, and health care look like in the future! See the member email for information and a link to take the survey.

Our bargaining team is made up of Staff United members just like you and the fantastic people you work with. Help shape what our next contract looks like by nominating yourself or a coworker to join the team. See the member email for information and a link to the nominations form.

Less than six months to go till the start of contract negotiations with UVM—which means NOW is the perfect time to share your thoughts about what we should fight for in our next contract! See the member email for information and a link to take the survey.

Both our bargaining survey and Bargaining Team nominations will launch on Monday, May 4th. Join your colleagues to take the survey in-person and chat with former Bargaining Team members about what it’s like to be on the team in Waterman Memorial Lounge (338) on Tuesday, May 5th from 7:30-10:00. Breakfast (coffee and bagels) provided!

Join fellow union members and our families for a night of bowling at Spare Time in Colchester. Let’s get the ball rolling on bargaining season by building relationships, camaraderie, and friendly competition with our colleagues. Food and drink provided, and strikes encouraged! We need to finalize lane reservations by the end of next week, so please RSVP soon!

Wondering how you can help shape our next contract? Grab your coworkers and head to our upcoming bargaining kick-off information session! Though contract negotiations may feel like they’re a long way off (we’ll be starting in October), it’s not too early to start talking about what bargaining will look like, how everyone can be involved, and what our priorities will be. We bargain together for things like improved wages, preserving healthcare, protecting our jobs against AI, and so much more. Staff United is committed to an open, transparent, democratic bargaining process, so this will be an exciting opportunity for everyone to play a role in winning the best possible contract. All members, from those with extensive bargaining experience to those brand new to the process, are encouraged to attend!

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.

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!”

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