The union representing state employees filed an official allegation of unfair labor practices against the judiciary branch this week with the Vermont Labor Relations Board.
Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA) officials say administrators in the court system are giving employees an unfair bargaining position by scheduling contract negotiations to take place after the judiciary branch has already made its annual funding request before lawmakers. If the finances are already set, the union argues, changes to the collective bargaining agreement are harder to implement.
“Because prior [judiciary] negotiations have always commenced after the Court Administrator has already submitted the Judiciary Department’s funding requests to the General Assembly, the VSEA has never been able to engage in meaningful collective bargaining over wages and other financial terms and conditions of employment, and has instead been forced to accept whatever terms are negotiated into the collective bargaining agreements covering employees of the executive branch of government,” the union’s lawyer Time Belcher said in a release.
The union wants negotiations to start in early August, which is when all other bargaining teams begin negotiations, according to the union.
Court Administrator Patricia Gabel said she had to limit her comments because of the legal proceedings.
“That said, we believe the case involves differing interpretations of the present agreement between VSEA and the judiciary, and we believe at a minimum that VSEA should have utilized the agreement’s grievance process in advance of filing any unfair labor practice charge,” she said.
Gable added that “regardless of how the [Vermont Labor Relations] Board rules in the pending case, we remain willing to discuss with the VSEA the prospect of commencing successor negotiations in advance of the present agreement’s deadline for commencement of negotiations.”
The judiciary branch filed a response to VSEA's complaint on Wednesday.
