A somewhat obscure labor bill hindered efforts by the Legislature to adjourn Friday night.
Tensions rose and tempers flared as Democrats and Republicans squared off over legislation that would require non-union municipal and school employees to pay union fees.
The Senate tacked on the “fair share” provision to House Bill 753, a bill on school consolidation.
Rep. Oliver Olsen, R-Jamaica, seized an opportunity earlier in the evening to delay discussion of the bill. Scriveners who prepared the House calendar inadvertently omitted parts of the legislation, and Olsen pointed out the error. The mistake threw the adjournment schedule off: Under traditional protocol, the House needed 24 hours before it could take action — unless House Republicans agreed to suspend the rules.
House Republicans won’t allow the three-quarters vote necessary to suspend the rules to take up the bill immediately — putting the Democratic majority in a tight spot after House Speaker Shap Smith had said that the Legislature would finish this weekend.
As tension persisted into the muggy late hours, a group of mostly Republicans held an impromptu press conference, blaming the Democrats for holding up the process.
“We should be wrapping up the session as we stand here,” said House Minority Leader Don Turner. “However, big labor has entered the picture.”
Republicans said they are just following the rules and not stalling the process.
“The rules are very clear,” Olsen said. “They apply to members of minority as well as the majority.”
While the minority Republican Party does not have enough members to carry a majority vote on most issues, it can sway a decision on whether to suspend the rules and move the process more quickly. Republicans have been wielding this power over the Democratic majority over the last few days.
Olsen said his party would have agreed to suspend the rules and take up the underlying education bill if Democrats had agreed to take out the union provision.
After a flustered couple of meetings on the Senate floor by Senate Pro Tem John Campbell and House Speaker Shap Smith (both Democrats), the Senate ended without finishing its business and the House left shortly thereafter.
Olsen said the two parties couldn’t reach a deal Friday night.
“We agreed to suspend the rules to complete work on the bill if the extraneous section is removed,” he said. “The majority flat out refused to remove this section.”
House GOP members are adamantly opposed to the “fair share” amendment which would, according to Olsen, require non-union school employees to pay Vermont-NEA dues.
Several lawmakers said Olsen knew about the omission in the calendar because members of legislative noticed that it affected his district.
Although the “fair share” provision has not been a major issue this session, labor bills in general have stalled in the Senate amid threats to attach a bill that would allow child-care workers to bargain collectively to them.
Members on both sides of the aisle feel equally strongly about the issue.
Rep. Bob Bouchard, R-Colchester, said the dues non-union members would have to pay to the Vermont-NEA adds up. He said it affects the lowest-paid workers disproportionately.
“These are some of the lowest-paid people in the entire school system,” he said. “These are our instructional aides, parent educators, school bus drivers, cafeteria workers, custodians.”
Bouchard said he calculated how much the non-union municipal and school employees in Colchester would have to pay if the bill passed.
The provision “would cost the lowest-paid people $44,223 out of their paychecks that goes right to the union,” he said. “How many electric bills is that? How much food could they buy?”
John Moran, D-Windham-Bennington, says there’s more to it. As co-chair of the Working Vermonters Legislative Caucus, he supports “fair share.”
“I’m disappointed parliamentary procedure would stop a chance for an up-and-down vote on a bill that I think is very important,” he said.
Rep. Johanna Leddy Donovan, D-Burlington, chair of House Education Committee, said non-union members benefit from the packages negotiated by the unions. She described to the Democratic caucus two hypothetical teachers entering the same school, with the same pay and benefits packages, with the same access to counsel at no cost to themselves if a grievance is filed against them, and one pays into the union that negotiates the benefits and the other does not. “That offends me,” she told her colleagues. “I hope it offends a number of you, and you will help us pass this in the next hour or two, and we will move along to adjourn.”
Moran said the bill is just what it sounds like — people pay their fair share for the benefits they receive as a result of the union.
“To me it’s a classic example of freedom and unity,” he said. “Freedom — this bill did not mandate anyone join an organization they didn’t want to join. Unity — if people benefit out of something they should share the burden.”
Caught in the middle of it all is an education bill.
Sen. Kevin Mullin, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, said it is unfortunate that good education bills have been stalled this year by controversial labor legislation.
House Bill 753 would allow for efficiencies in school governance structures. According to a study, Mullin said, it could save close to $750,000 a year in education costs. Mullin said other education bills were also held hostage in the Senate.
“I’m willing to stay here until Tuesday if that’s what it takes, but clearly others are not and so we’re going to try to figure out a way to move forward,” Mullin said.
Donovan was amazed by Olsen’s willingness to scuttle the bill.
“So many things go on now, it’s a wonder that there aren’t more clerical errors all the time,” exclaimed Donovan. “And I’m sure there are. It’s just that Rep. Olsen found this one… He was informed of it by legislative council because it had to do with his district, benefiting his district, so legislative council felt obligated to disclose that it did not make the notice calendar because of a clerical omission. So he took something that was benefitting his district and used it to scuttle a very very valuable bill. As Ricky used to say, you got some splainin to do.”
The Legislature will meet Saturday and is expected to adjourn then.
Editor’s note: Carl Etnier contributed to this report, which was updated at 8 a.m. May 5.
