[T]he Vermont Judiciary and the state workers union have reached a tentative agreement after 11 months of difficult negotiations.
The Vermont State Employees Association and the judiciary made the announcement on Monday, according to press releases from the union and the state.
The tentative deal was struck less than a week after the release of a fact finder’s report.
Margaret Crowley, chair of the VSEA Judiciary Unit, said in a statement that VSEA members “worked very hard to ensure our collective voices were heard over a very long and tough bargaining process.”
“The agreement reached yesterday will help us support ourselves and our families and will also help ensure that the Judiciary community is strong and that there is a culture of mutual respect,” Crowley said.
The union and the judiciary bargaining process included mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. In addition, Michael Ryan, of Freeport, Maine, conducted several days of fact-finding hearings.
Patricia Gabel, the court administrator, said in a statement that the parties were able to come to a compromise with “face to face bargaining rather than through the shuttle diplomacy of a mediator.”
“We are very pleased that this protracted negotiation has been resolved in a fiscally prudent manner that is mutually acceptable to both parties and generally consistent with the recommendations of the neutral fact finder,” Gabel said.
Details of the agreement have not yet been released, pending ratification of the deal by members of the judiciary unit of VSEA.
The settlement will obviate the need for both parties to go to the Vermont Labor Relations Board for a last best offer.
