UVM Staff United held a rally April 16 on the Waterman steps.

UVMSU is in the process of negotiating their second contract with UVM, said Co-President Ellen Kaye. The current contract is dated through June 30. 

“We are back at the table to fight for a livable wage for our workers to make sure that UVM jobs are good jobs, that we have decent health insurance and we keep our really good health insurance, and also that we are paying a livable wage that keeps up with inflation, with housing, with all of the costs that have been skyrocketing, including insurance premiums,” Kaye said.

“The fight for a step scale at UVM is a fight for a future we can trust!” reads an April 10 post announcing the rally.

In a step scale system, employees would be placed on a step according to their experience, and in addition to any percentage wage increases for all bargaining unit members, each employee would move up a step at the end of the fiscal year, said Co-President Claire Whitehouse in a March 19 UVMSU Facebook post.

“Right now, compensation at UVM is a black box. We have pay bands, but most of us make in the middle or the bottom of the pay band and we have no idea how to advance our wages up,” Whitehouse said in the post.

Fifty-eight percent of staff in UVMSU can’t afford the fair market rate for a one-bedroom apartment in Burlington, Whitehouse said at the rally.

“We’re talking about the flagship university of the state, the second largest employer in the state, paying staff so little that we can’t afford to stay here,” Whitehouse said. “I would imagine that’s not how UVM wants its image to be.”