The Vermont State Employees Association has changed its strategy after an unsuccessful two-year battle to unionize deputy state’s attorneys, victims’ advocates and administrative staff.
A Senate bill that would have allowed state’s attorneys to bargain collectively has been stalled this biennium and there is no indication from lawmakers that it will be taken up before adjournment.
So the union is now looking to organize workers in state’s attorneys offices county by county under the Municipal Employee Relations Act (MERA). VSEA filed petitions last week with the Vermont Labor Relations Board on behalf of six state’s attorneys offices in Chittenden, Franklin, Essex, Orange, Rutland and Windsor that represent 55 workers.
In all, there are 14 offices statewide, representing about 100 workers. The union plans to file petitions for additional offices on “behalf of as many as 60 percent to 70 percent of workers in state’s attorneys offices.”
If the Labor Relations Board determines the employees are eligible under MERA, they could voluntarily accept VSEA as their bargaining agent, provided no other employee organization seeks to represent them.
The Shumlin administration has fought the union drive and has argued that the workers are county, not state, employees.
If the petition to the board is successful, workers for the six state’s attorneys offices will have the right to negotiate wages as municipal employees.
VSEA Executive Director Mark Mitchell said the union hopes elections for each of the six offices that have petitioned the board will be held in the next four to six weeks.
“Today, these workers have no right to have a voice in the determination of their working conditions, career progression or pay, but they are determined to continue their fight to obtain these rights,” Mitchell said. “State workers and their union look forward to welcoming these members into the VSEA family and working together towards a respectful first union contract.”
The Labor Relations Board has asked the district offices to notify it by May 2 whether the districts believe the employees are covered by MERA.
Doug Gibson, spokesman for the union, said it’s up to the Vermont Labor Relations Board to determine whether the workers are municipal or state employees.
“VSEA does not make determinations regarding which workers fall under which statutes. That’s the Labor Board’s purview,” Gibson said. “These workers have come to VSEA to say they want collective bargaining rights, and VSEA supports them gaining collective bargaining rights and we are prepared to represent them, regardless of which Act the Labor Board says they fall under. The truth is these workers have waited and watched for far too long now, as the State’s Attorneys’ office and the State, through the Attorney General’s office, have opposed their efforts to win collective bargaining rights.”
VTDigger’s Tom Brown contributed to this report.
