The Vermont State Employees Association, which represents roughly 5,000 workers, elected longtime member Shelley Martin to replace outgoing president John Reese.
Martin, who works at the Department of Environmental Conservation, had served in the No. 2 two position on the board for four years. She has also held a number of other leadership positions in the union. Reese did not seek another term.
Martin is taking the helm of the union during an eventful time — VSEA is in the midst of collective bargaining negotiations with the state, and at the end of September it will enter mediation with the Vermont State Colleges on behalf of the 250 staff it represents there. The board itself was the scene of some divisiveness during the summer. It fired its executive Mark Mitchell only to reinstate him shortly thereafter.
VSEA members have criticized what they describe as Mitchell’s hard line approach to bargaining, but Reese remained a staunch supporter of Mitchell. In a statement announcing her new position, Martin expressed optimism at the direction the union is headed.
“VSEA is experiencing a lot of positive and — in my opinion — long-overdue changes right now,” she said. “Like a majority of VSEA leaders, I believe that the times we live in dictate that our union begins to place a greater emphasis on empowering VSEA members at their worksites and growing our union by organizing more and more Vermont workers who currently don’t have a union but would like one.”
The announcement came Wednesday, along with the results of several other elections — three of which put incumbents back in place. Michelle Salvador, a Health Department employee, was newly elected as first vice president. Jeff Briggs, who works for the Agency of Natural Resources, was re-elected second vice president. Tracey Harrington, who works for the Agency of Human Services, kept her position as clerk, and Sheila Manchester Coniff, a Department of Labor employee, was reelected treasurer.
