Monthly Archives: December 2011

Letter from Louise – Thoughts on post-retirement benefits

Posted on by usu

Louise Lynch, USU-NEA leader and 16-year veteran of UVM, shares her thoughts on the recent announcement by UVM on changes to post-retiree healthcare and the 2% salary increase.  Louise is a Office Program Support Generalist in CESS.

Dear Colleagues:

Recently, I received an email that was addressed to  Non-represented staff from Richard Cate, the Vice President for Finance and Administration regarding Salary and Medical Benefits updates. I find it ironic that the University is announcing this 2%, FY13 raise in December instead of late spring as is their usual practice.  Could it just be that this is an attempt to placate staff at a time when there is increased union activity in the air for unrepresented staff, and University Staff Union-NEA is filing for an election?   Continue reading →

Q: Can I sign two union cards?

Posted on by usu

NOTE: On Friday January 27th the Vermont Labor Relations Board announced that it AGREED with USU-NEA’s legal opinion regarding the signing of two cards.  The VLRB agreed with USU-NEA that for the purposes of filing for a union election signing cards for both union efforts do NOT cancel each other out and both cards are counted.

A: YES! Watch the video to find out why!

Many people have been asking University Staff Union-NEA if we can sign two union authorization cards and answer is YES.

Here is why – and it is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

  1. Signing an authorization card is the first step in giving UVM staff – us – the choice to vote for a union.
  2. Signing a card – for one or multiple groups – makes it clear that there is a desire to hold an election and have the democratic choice.
  3. If the desire to have a union election is clear – based upon our legal opinion – there is no good reason that the UVM staff would be denied the opportunity to vote. Continue reading →