News

Across the country, public college and university administrations have used the Covid-19 crisis as an opening to remake higher education as a business: shuttering liberal arts programming, increasing executive pay, and squeezing more out of students, staff and faculty.

Staff and faculty at the University of Vermont, however, responded to this pressure by organizing -- and this spring, secured important victories in the form of a new contract for faculty and a union for the 1300-plus clerical, technical, specialized and professional staff who work at UVM.

Staff at UVM began

Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) provides reproductive health care to 42,000 people across Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire, including thousands of people living in underserved low-income and rural communities.

As the pandemic dragged on, however, staff at PPNNE watched as high rates of staff turnover began to jeopardize the organization’s important mission. Health centers faced the prospect of service reductions and closure as underpaid staff left emotionally stressful positions at PPNNE for better-paying jobs elsewhere.

As Dana Keyes-Gibbons reflected, “We

Nurses and health professionals at UVM Medical Center (UVMMC), Porter Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) in Plattsburgh took the lead this year in fighting for safe staffing and quality patient care amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The challenges came one after another. On top of a pre-existing staff shortage, in October 2020 UVMMC’s electronic health records system was hit by a ransomware attack that left it incapacitated for nearly four weeks, with ripple effects still being felt months later.

For inpatient X-ray technologist Mike Popovitch and his

For Immediate Release: 7 October 2021
Contact: Keith Brunner, 802-363-9615, keith.brunner@aftvermont.org

UVM Medical Center imaging technologists ratify agreement

Burlington -- Imaging technologists at UVM Medical Center today announced that after months of organizing and bargaining, they ratified a negotiated agreement enabling them to be covered under the existing Technical Professional contract, with additional protections and improvements specific to their work.

In March, technologists voted overwhelmingly to join the other 2,400 UVM Medical Center nurses and technicians who are members of

For Immediate Release: September 27, 2021

Contact: Matt McGrath, 802-373-0133, matt.mcgrath@aftvermont.org

Staff Union at Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) ratifies first contract with employer. 

Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine - After months of bargaining, staff and management have reached an agreement on a first contract. The agreement has been ratified by the union membership.

The staff union made significant economic progress including raising the minimum wage from $15/hr to $17.50, including $18/min for all existing employees. 

Bargaining team member Dana Keyes-Gibbons from

In AFT President Randi Weingarten’s latest New York Times  column, she describes what it is exactly that unions do. Though unions are the most popular they have been in decades, anti-union sentiment still thrives in red states and across the nation. “Several years ago, The Atlantic ran a story whose headline made even me, a labor leader, scratch my head: ‘Union Membership: Very Sexy,’” Weingarten writes in the column. “The gist was that higher wages, health benefits and job security—all associated with union membership—boost one’s chances of getting married. Belonging to a union doesn’t actually guarantee happily ever after, but it does help working people have a better life in the here and now.” Click through to read the full column.

Nurses and health professionals at UVM Medical Center (UVMMC), Porter Medical Center and Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital (CVPH) in Plattsburgh took the lead this year in fighting for safe staffing and quality patient care amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The challenges came one after another. On top of a pre-existing staff shortage, in October 2020 UVMMC’s electronic health records system was hit by a ransomware attack that left it incapacitated for nearly four weeks, with ripple effects still being felt months later.

For inpatient X-ray technologist Mike Popovitch and his

AFT Vermont is statewide federation, a union of more than 5000 professionals and one of the fastest growing unions in Vermont. As an organization, we are committed to supporting our locals in building power in the following ways:

Member Engagement & Development

• Develop and implement a robust new employee orientation and new member follow up in each local

• Develop and implement a plan to engage every member of the union in at least one activity to build the union every year

• Develop and implement a plan to engage every non-member of the union every year to join with us and to join their union.

• Develo