A push is under way for Vermont’s unionized corrections officers to join a different union.
Steffen Flibotte, chair of the Vermont State Employees’ Association corrections bargaining unit, has stepped down from that post and is urging his colleagues to sign up with the New England Police Benevolent Association.
Flibotte said he recently resigned as the VSEA corrections unit chair, a position he held since January 2020.
“Since becoming chair, I hadn’t gone a single week without a corrections member suggesting that we find a new union,” Flibotte said this week. “I thought, as the chair, it was my duty to pursue that. I thought there was enough interest, and I think that’s what the greater membership wants.”
He said the corrections unit is one of the largest units represented by the state employees association, but members feel “completely drowned out” by the other units the union also represents.
“I don’t think the VSEA understands the bargaining unit as well as they should,” he said.
Steve Howard, VSEA executive director, called the decertification effort “a sad turn of events” for the union. He said the union is strongly committed to members of the corrections unit and has pushed the department to address staffing shortages.
“We’re really focused on the issues, not on the politics. We’ll leave the politics to Steffen,” Howard said. “Dividing the corrections unit probably isn’t going to help us get the results they need.”
The corrections department and its workers have been under a microscope for more than a year following Seven Days’ publication of stories detailing allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, retaliation and staff drug use at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility, the state’s only women’s prison. A later review by consultants in December 2020 found the reports of chronic sexual abuse at the prison were largely accurate.
Shortly after publication of the Seven Days expose in December 2019, then-Corrections Commissioner Michael Touchette resigned. James Baker was appointed interim commissioner in January 2020, a position he still holds.
Flibotte said the New England Police Benevolent Association sought him out about a year ago.
Jerry Flynn, executive director of the New England Police Benevolent Association, said Thursday that his organization represents a number of corrections bargaining units across Massachusetts, including in Norfolk, Worcester and Middlesex counties.
“We represent a large portion of corrections officers, probably over 2,000 throughout New England,” Flynn said.
The organization also represents unions for more than 30 police departments around Vermont, he said.
The organization describes itself as a nonprofit corporation with regional offices in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, according to its website.
Its website stated that it will provide service and representation that union members can depend on.
“Our ‘Rapid Response Unit’ will be at your location in the event of a catastrophic situation such as an officer-involved shooting, an officer-involved motor vehicle accident or any emergency situation where legal union representation is needed,” the website stated, “and like you, we will respond 365/24/7.”
Flibotte said he is gathering signatures from corrections union members seeking to decertify VSEA as representing them and join up with the New England Police Benevolent Association, which he said represents corrections staff in other states.
When asked how many signatures he has already collected, Flibotte replied, “I honestly have no idea; it’s so early.”
Flibotte said the Vermont corrections unit has more than 800 positions with a number of vacancies. To force a vote for a new union he needs signatures from 30 percent of the current members — about 240 signatures, he said.
Howard said he wouldn’t be surprised if Flibotte gets enough signatures to force a union vote. “Even if people sign a card, that doesn’t mean that’s how they are going to vote,” he said.
The VSEA is a Vermont-based union representing Vermonters and understands how the state works better than an out-of-state union could, Howard said.
“There are many venues, avenues, for leaders like Steffen to partake in the democratic process in our union,” Howard said. “But, you have to work as a team.”
