Unions

The union representing health care and higher education employees, AFT Vermont, says it’s doubled the number of workers in its ranks over the last six years.

Nursing staff at Vermont's largest hospital will receive a 23% pay increase over the next three years. The agreement averts a strike that could have cost the medical center over $10 million.

The University of Vermont Medical Center is preparing to bring in about 500 nurses to work there next week. That's after the union representing around 2,000 nurses at the hospital issued a strike notification Monday.

In 2022, UVM Staff United negotiated a contract with the university administration that raised wages and increased benefits. Now, that contract is ending.

The proposed constitutional amendment would protect the rights of employees in Vermont to organize and collectively bargain.

They join a growing number of staffers collectively bargaining with their Vermont hospital employers.

Although the NCAA has long maintained that its players are “student-athletes” who were in school primarily to study, college sports has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry that richly rewards coaches and schools while the players remained unpaid amateurs.

Ben & Jerry’s has reached its first contract agreement with workers at its retail location in Burlington. About 40 workers at the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream shop in Burlington announced last April that they planned to form a union.

Union membership still needs to ratify the contract before it's finalized. It was reached after an overnight bargaining session that ended early Thursday morning.

The union hopes the increased compensation will improve patient care across the hospital.