Posts tagged Vermont
Unions pursue law changes to boost membership
September 8, 2024 // “The overarching theme is that the unions have really responded to the membership losses since JANUS to drive up union membership,” Osborne said. In the JANUS decision, courts held that unions could no longer collect “fair share” dues from non-members who benefit from collective bargaining agreements. Follow-up litigation has challenged the cumbersome process many former members had to overcome to leave the union and recoup dues improperly withheld. In the report, states known as union “strongholds” scored lower than others that have enacted collective bargaining reforms.
Op-Ed: Florida vs. Michigan on Public Unions
August 30, 2024 // Each local union chapter must show that at least 60% of its eligible members are paying dues, or the state requires it to hold a new election. That sets teachers, clerks and custodians free from unions that haven’t won them over, and at least 20 units have been decertified in the past year. A few other states have also rolled back union coercion. Arkansas and Tennessee enacted paycheck protection for teachers. Kentucky legislators overrode a veto by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear to secure the same. On the other side of the trend is Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a repeal of paycheck protection for teachers last summer. She also ended a requirement that schools pay teachers based on merit instead of seniority alone
10 States with the Largest Declines in Union Membership
August 26, 2024 // Daniel Li, CEO and Co-Founder of Plus Docs, commented on the findings: "It's interesting to see where states are seeing union memberships surge, especially as although there is a general increase in the South and Midwest, it is also true that neighboring states can see vastly different results. While Mississippi has nearly doubled its union membership, their neighbor, Alabama, has gone the opposite way."
VERMONT: Phil Scott allows ‘ghost guns,’ union organizing bills to become law without his signature
June 5, 2024 // To allow a bill to go into law without a signature is a middle-ground approach available to the governor — in between striking it down with a veto and endorsing it with a signature. Scott holds the record for issuing the most gubernatorial vetoes in state history: 46. “One concern with the bill is the potential to adversely impact the employer-employee relationship by limiting an employer’s ability to communicate their point of view on a range of issues, including the advantages and disadvantages of unionization,” he wrote. Scott in his letter also said he is “concerned that S.102 is a slippery slope to future disruptions in the employee-employer relationship in agriculture, domestic services and independent contracting as well as any local businesses and non-profits working solely within state lines.”
Vermont Senate unanimously passes amendment ensuring workers’ right to unionize
April 4, 2024 // Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth, A Democrat/Progressive from Chittenden, told his colleagues that it's critical to "enshrine" the authority of labor unions in Vermont at a time when they are under siege in several other states. "When I look at this particular amendment, I look on it very much as I did the amendment we made to the constitution in terms of reproductive rights. We are strengthening what we have, and we're protecting it from going away, which can happen in the legislative blink of an eye."
Ben & Jerry’s workers at flagship Vermont plant vote to unionize
December 20, 2023 // UFCW said Ben & Jerry’s parent company, Unilever, “agreed to neutrality, paving the way for workers” to unionize. “We are glad to see Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever live up to their stated values by recognizing their workers’ right to unionize instead of forcing a long and drawn out election process,” said UFCW Local 371 President Ronald M. Petronella. Ben & Jerry’s has regularly advocated for social causes such as ending modern slavery and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Nurses and technical staff unionize at Central Vermont Medical Center
August 24, 2023 // Currently, each local union bargains separately with the administration at their respective hospital rather than at the network level. Kate Roche, a nurse educator, got involved in the effort to unionize after realizing she was having similar conversations with many other CVMC nurses who were facing challenges around staffing levels, compensation and how decisions in their departments were being made. “I saw all these people try on their own unsuccessfully to impact major change,” Roche said. “I figured, we have to try something else.”
Oregon Education Association Just the Latest Teachers’ Union to Impose Racially Discriminatory Policies
June 15, 2023 // On April 30, OEA’s board of directors discussed a so-called “progressive dues structure for BIPOC (black, indigenous and people of color) members,” according to meeting minutes. This scheme would include a “significant discount for educators until the racial breakdown of our membership aligns with the racial breakdown of our student population.”
BEN & JERRY’S AGREES TO VOLUNTARILY RECOGNIZE SCOOPERS UNITED UNION!
June 2, 2023 // "We are taught from the beginning of our employment that equality and justice are integral rights of ours as people. But what happens when Vermont's Finest are continuously left out of these conversations?" the scoopers wrote in a letter at the time. Ben & Jerry's responded to the announcement saying it supported workers' organizing efforts. The company followed up Tuesday's card check by voluntarily recognizing the result.