Editors Note: This story was updated on Oct. 3 at 2p.m. to correctly identify a date and to clarify the staff included in Staff United.
Over the summer, UVM Staff United has been busy fighting back on audit security and facing layoffs.
“A lot of the things that UVM changes, they do over the summer,” said Claire Whitehouse, UVM Staff United co-president. “Not just because, ‘Let’s make this change so that it’s ready for when students get back,’ but also they know you’re not there to watch.”
UVM Staff United is the union for clerical, specialized, technical and professional staff at UVM who organize for who organize for collective power in bargaining wages, benefits and working conditions, according to the Staff United web page.
“The big thing that we saw happen right after the semester ended last year … is we saw a series of layoffs,” Whitehouse said.
These layoffs were positions paid for by hard funding, meaning they were funded by UVM, therefore, the University itself made the decision. There were six layoffs in total, in addition to an elimination of a vacant position, Whitehouse stated in an email.
Of these terminations, three occurred in the libraries, one in financial services, two in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and one in the Mosaic Center, Whitehouse said.
In addition to hard funding layoffs, Staff United was notified of eight layoffs due to a loss of funding since mid-May, Whitehouse said.
The eight layoffs were in positions that were soft-funded or paid for by grants, Whitehouse said.
Whitehouse said she was unsure how many layoffs were due to a grant coming to its natural end or because the federal administration rescinded or declined to renew funding on a grant.
Because of the life cycle of grants, some layoffs are expected, but in the last six months, they seem to have accelerated, Whitehouse said.
Many of these layoffs were accompanied by layoffs of supervisors and/or confidential employees who are not represented by the Staff United union, Whitehouse said.
Following the layoffs, Staff United’s primary focus was supporting those affected and responding, Whitehouse said.
When UVM announced a project for dependent eligibility verification for health plans on June 25, Staff United’s objectives shifted.
Dependents are children or relatives who rely on a staff member for financial support.
In the statement, UVM announced a project to confirm that all dependents enrolled in their medical, dental or vision plans are eligible.
UVM stated that confirmation was mandatory for dependents to retain their health plans. Additionally, UVM announced that the audit would be partnering with Willis Towers Waterson, and that the process would run from July 7 through Sept. 5.
WTW is a multinational insurance company from the U.K. and the United States, according to their history page.
In order to prove dependents on staff plans are eligible, staff were required to submit documentation to WTW.
“We negotiate health insurance in our contracts and this changes what we have to do for our families to access health insurance,” Whitehouse said.
Following the announcement, UVM Staff United became concerned about the security of the dependents’ audit, and was determined to bargain, Whitehouse said.
“Staff United, as well as the faculty union United Academics and UE Local 267, which is the custodial and maintenance union, we were all like, ‘what about our data security,’ right? [WTW] had a data breach two years ago,” stated Whitehouse.
Following UVM’s announcement, Staff United organized a rally at the Waterman building on Aug. 14 to protest the audit and voice concerns about uploading sensitive documents to a third party.
“Members of Unions … will come together on Thursday at noon to demand that President Marlene Tromp immediately pause an ongoing dependents audit and agree to negotiate the terms of the audit with their unions,” the press release stated.
Less than a week after this rally, UVM announced two major changes, according to the UVM Human Resources webpage.
These changes stated that WTW would delete all data right after the audit, which would typically be kept for 10 years, and that staff members who do not want to go through WTW can go through Human Resources instead.
“So we’re still working. You know, [but] we’ve taken a step back on the action strategy for that,” Whitehouse said.
Now that fall semester has begun, Staff United’s main objectives are focused on monitoring the administration’s new initiatives, Whitehouse stated in an email.
Specifically, Staff United is closely following Catamount Leap, a plan to develop a one-stop-shop model for student support, and the administration’s development of a new strategic plan, Whitehouse stated.
“We urge this new administration to end the practice of making unilateral decisions without the input of its employees or its unions, and instead work with us to ensure that these initiatives are responsive to our work and working conditions,” Whitehouse stated.
