Vermont Department of Corrections staff will stick with their existing union.
Prison workers and probation and parole staff voted 132-116 to stay with the Vermont State Employees’ Association rather than join the National Correctional Employees Union, which represents more than 50 local branches in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, according to results shared by the Vermont Labor Relations Board.
This isn’t the first time an out-of-state union has failed to usurp the Vermont State Employees’ Association by seeking to represent Vermont’s roughly 750 unionized corrections workers. In 2021, the New England Police Benevolent Association filed a similar petition. Corrections staff later voted by a nearly two-to-one margin to remain in the state employees’ union.
Due to staffing shortages, prison staff are sometimes made to work 16-hour shifts. Those marathon days were top of mind as corrections employees voted, according to Steve Howard, executive director of the Vermont State Employees’ Association.
“It was a tough campaign because of the challenging conditions on the ground,” he said. “Our win was based on the assessment that members made that we are in the best position to get the governor to do something.”
Bargaining between the state employees’ union and Gov. Phil Scott’s administration paused leading up to the vote, according to Howard. The process is a primary avenue for corrections staff to secure better conditions and pay, he said.
A representative for the National Correctional Employees Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday.
