[G]ov. Phil Scott made a rare concession to labor interests this week by agreeing to reset the selection process for candidates to the state’s Labor Relations Board before making three new appointments in the coming weeks.
The labor board found itself in the crosshairs of a pitched battle between the administration and some of the state’s largest labor unions. Two of the six members have expiring terms, while a third seat remains open following the blocked nomination of Burlington attorney Karen O’Neill.
Labor Commissioner Lindsay Kurrle said Tuesday that the administration will implement a new process — passed as part of a related bill during the special session — for the selection of all three replacements, in part to avoid the “negative energy” around O’Neill’s appointment.
“At the end of the day what we don’t want is for anyone to question the credibility of the panel that will lead to what Ms. O’Neill went through during her confirmation process,” Kurrle said.
O’Neill was appointed to a neutral seat on the board, which unions said was inappropriate because of her background as a utilities executive and an attorney with a firm that touted its union-busting experience.
Two current members of the Labor Relations Board wrote to Scott last month suggesting that he change the process before soliciting candidates for the open seats to ensure the legitimacy of board decisions moving forward.
Central to that recommendation, and part of criticism from unions, has been the fact that the Kurrle failed to consult with multiple unions when selecting the labor representative for the Labor Board Review Panel, the 5-member body that recommends candidates for the board.
The new process laid out in Act 2, which was passed during the special session and signed by the governor, requires the commissioner to solicit names from three labor groups or management groups before making an appointment to the seat representing their interests.
In order to clear the way for that process, the commissioner asked Jeffrey Wimette, the labor representative, and Betsy Bishop, the management representative, to step down from their positions.
“If they resign and we reappoint the panel,” Kurrle said, “at the end of the day we want to make sure there is enough credibility — that people feel confident in who’s there.”
The commissioner said that she was in the process of drafting a letter to labor groups seeking their suggestions for panel members.
Wimette, business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said the question of whether or not his appointment by Kurrle followed legal procedure remained open.
“One could debate that up and down the hill,” he said. “She was doing what she thought was correct and we’ve changed the policies for the better and now everybody is going to have a better understanding of how the process works.”
The driving factor in the decision for Wimette and Bishop to resign was to avoid the sort of fight that surrounded O’Neill, whose appointment sparked a counter-campaign by the Vermont State Employees Association and ultimately a highly rare move by Democratic senators to block her appointment.
“It was decided that we should follow new rules in the hopes that this wouldn’t happen again,” Wimette said. “And so the next individuals wouldn’t go through the same scrutiny that Ms. O’Neill went through.”
Wimette said he would be open to returning to the panel if labor groups put his name forward.
The new law on state boards also improves the process of vetting candidates who are recommended to the review panel, adding the requirements that the panel interview potential appointees and check with one reference.
VSEA Executive Director Steve Howard said he read the administration’s decision as little more than a commitment to comply with the law.
“That’s good,” Howard said. “It looks like they are going to start over with the mess they created, but they have a lot of work to do.”
Howard said the changes to the labor board selection process were sensible, but not enough to bring real balance to the state’s main labor dispute resolution body, which remains composed mainly of administration appointees.
“That panel is still stacked against workers, and we will be back in the Statehouse next year saying you need balance here,” Howard said.
The VSEA also will make its case before the labor board on Thursday when it argues for reconsideration of the board’s decision to impose the administration’s proposed contract on state workers in March, which sparked the protests against O’Neill, who was among those who voted in favor of the governor’s proposal.
“We hope the labor board will restore its credibility with a fair hearing on July 12,” Howard said.
Ultimately, Wimette said, the reaction of unions seemed to depend more on how those members decided in certain cases than their professional background.
“I do know that this body is supposed to be impartial of what takes place, so no matter what decisions come down they are going to dispute the decision if it doesn’t go their way,” he added.
“If Ms. O’Neill had voted for the labor side, would we still be in this predicament?”
