South Vermont News

Today Burlington City workers, members of AFSCME Local 1343 of the Vermont AFL-CIO, ratified a new four year Collective Bargaining Agreement which achieves 12 weeks of paid Family Medical Leave, making the Queen's City the FIRST municipality in Vermont to provide paid FMLA.  The Agreement also includes fair wage increases of 8% year one, and 22.2% raises (Steps & COLA combined) over the life of the Contract.  Burlington is the largest city in Vermont. 

Local 1343 made paid parental leave/FMLA a issue during the last City election (with most Progressive & Democratic candidates, including the Mayor, telling the Union they would support the creation of such a benefit for public workers).  Local Union officials tell the Vermont AFL-CIO that Mayor Miro Weinberger, through his representatives, made good on this promise throughout the bargaining process and that negotiations were respectful and productive from the start.  With this major addition to the AFSCME Contract Local 1343 and the City of Burlington were able to do what the General Assembly failed achieve in recent years (a more modest parental leave bill was recently vetoed by Governor Scott and the Democrats failed to have a critical mass of their Party support the override attempt).

The ratification vote was conducted by secret ballot over two days in Downtown Burlington and at the Airport. A majority of Union members cast a ballot with 97.92% voting yes, and 2.08 voting no. 

The new Agreement includes the following improvements for City workers...

Union Power:

* All full time City workers not already organized into existing Unions, including limited service workers, shall be eligible to join the Union and receive benefits defined in this Agreement (this excludes Managers, Supervisors, HR, and Confidential positions);

* Right of Union Stewards to meet with new hires for one hour on the clock recognized;

* Scabs can only resign from their Union during periods defined by the Union;

* Scabs who do not pay Union dues shall pay a fee for service at a rate defined by the Union;

Total Raises/New Money

* Total (Average) raise for life of Agreement = 21.2+%

Total Average Raises (Steps & COLA combined, not inclusive of PG changes or Longevity Bonuses):

* Year One 8%

* Year Two 5.6%

* Year Three 3.8%

* Year Four 3.8%

COLA:

* Year One COLA 7.2% (retroactive to July 1, 2022)

* Year Two COLA 4.8%

* Year Three COLA 3%

* Year Four COLA 3%

Steps:

* All eligible workers shall receive pay steps throughout all four years. Annual Average value of the steps is 0.8%

Pay Grades:

* PGs 6 through 8 eliminated with impacted workers moved to PG 9, where they shall keep their present Step;

Longevity Pay:

* New longevity bonus of $500 will be paid annually for workers starting at year ten of employment until they reach year 15, at which time they shall receive the higher longevity pay as defined in the current CBA (up to $1330 per year);

On Call Pay:

* In year two shall increase $2 a day;

* In year three to $3 a day;

* In year four to $3 a day;

* Over life of contract shall go to $48 a day (up from $40);

CDL:

* CDL Trainers shall receive an additional 10% in their base pay;

Boots & Uniforms:

* Boot/Footwear Pay increases to $300 per year (up from $200);

More Promotional Opportunities:

* The Union and the City shall form a committee tasked with creating a new three tier system of promotions within DPW. This would be akin to workers having an Apprentice, Journeyman, and Masters level positions (each with built in raises from one to the other). By mutual consent of the Union and the City, this new system may be implemented during the life of the Agreement. 

Healthcare:

* Total employee contribution to the Healthcare benefit shall remain 20% (this is the status quo from the last contract);

* In year one the healthcare burden to a worker will not exceed 6.5% of base salary;

* In year two the healthcare burden to a worker will not exceed 6.5% of base salary;

* In year three the healthcare burden to a worker will not exceed 6.75% of base salary;

* In year four the healthcare burden to a worker will not exceed 6.95% of base salary;

Paid Time Off:

* 12 weeks of paid FMLA: Burlington to become the first municipality in the State of Vermont with paid Family Medical Leave (FMLA);

* Year one four weeks of FMLA shall be paid in full (with no use of accrued leave);

* Year’s two, first four weeks of paid FMLA will be paid in full, and a second four weeks will be paid at a rate of 60% (with workers being able to make themselves whole by use of accrued leave);

* Years three & four first four weeks of paid FMLA will be paid in full, and the next eight weeks will be paid at a rate of 60% (with workers being able to make themselves whole

by use of accrued leave);

Health & Safety:

* New process defined whereby if a worker asserts that they are being asked to perform work that is unsafe, a Union Steward can intervene and shutdown the unsafe actions until the concern is reviewed by the relevant Manager;

Holidays:

* In recognition of the struggle against racism, Juneteenth will now be a paid holiday;

* In recognition of Vermont’s original occupants, the Abenaki, “Columbus Day” will become “Indigenous Peoples Day” (and will remain a paid holiday;

Parity With Management:

* If Management receives a better deal on benefits as are defined in this Agreement, Union gets that better deal too;

The Vermont AFL-CIO congratulates the 1343 Bargaining Team and Rank & File Burlington members for securing this GREAT Union Contract and once again showing THERE IS POWER IN THE UNION!

-VT AFL-CIO

Original source can be found here.