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VT-NEA rejects health care compromise in Act 11 negotiations dispute

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Act 11 statewide health insurance negotiations for all public school employees have been impeded since the first meeting between legislatively appointed commissioners for VT-NEA and the Vermont School Boards Association (VSBA) on April 1 of this year.

Despite the Act 11 statute’s explicit direction that each party be represented by five (5) member “commissioners,” VT-NEA and AFSCME have insisted on having 10 union members as commissioners in attendance at the talks, five of whom have been referred to as “alternates” or “trainees.”

VSBA representatives have insisted that the union follow the unambiguously clear language of the statute, and have filed an unfair labor practice charge against VT-NEA with the Vermont Labor Relations Board (VLRB).

Despite its legal objections, however, VSBA’s five commissioners have met under protest on two occasions with the union’s ten-commissioner team while awaiting a resolution from the labor board. Given the tight timeline outlined in the statute for completion of the talks, VSBA commissioners recently asked VT-NEA’s five commissioners to do the same as a gesture of good will, and agree to conduct this Friday’s scheduled meeting ― also under protest ― without the five additional commissioners while the parties await resolution from the VLRB. Vermont-NEA rejected this compromise offer to advance the talks.

Attorney Joseph McNeil, who is representing the school boards, pointed out that recent decisions by the Vermont Labor Board and the Vermont Supreme Court make it clear that good faith school negotiations are best conducted in private. He added, “The statutory language in Act 11 is very precise and unambiguously clear. Each side is allowed to have a total of five commissioners at the talks, not 10 as the unions contend. Not alternate commissioners, observers, or negotiators-in-training, as the union contends.”

School Board Commissioners’ chair Elizabeth Fitzgerald stated, “We hope VT-NEA soon decides to follow the law. Given the very short statutory timeline requiring a conclusion in talks by December of this year, this needless, time-consuming power play at the outset of talks seriously jeopardizes the success of these negotiations.”

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