H.580 would create a unified public employees' health plan covering current and retired State, school, municipal, and university workers in Vermont. It establishes an independent commission to design the plan and set cost-sharing between employers and employees, while removing health care from collective bargaining. The bill requires all public employee health insurance costs to be tracked in a single budget line item, mandating annual transparency reports on total costs, cost per covered person, and year-over-year trends. It also directs the Governor’s budget to present public employee health benefits and Medicaid costs together, along with detailed breakdowns of expenditures for other state health programs.
H 485 would grant unionized state employees in the Executive Branch and Judiciary the right to strike. Currently, these employees in Vermont are prohibited from striking under state law. The bill amends the State Employees Labor Relations Act to explicitly allow strikes as a labor action. This change directly affects unionized workers in the executive and judicial branches of state government.
H 290 amends Vermont's State Employees Labor Relations Act to include Assistant Attorneys General as state employees eligible for collective bargaining. Currently, these employees are excluded from the definition of "State employee" under the law, but the bill would remove that exclusion. This change would allow Assistant Attorneys General to form unions and negotiate contracts with the state regarding workplace conditions, pay, and benefits. The law is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2025.
This bill amends Vermont's collective bargaining law (3 V.S.A. §§ 941, 1021, 1581, 1584, 1992) to clarify who qualifies for union representation. It redefines "employee" to exclude judges, court staff, interns, probationary workers, and certain managers (Sec. 5), while adjusting petition thresholds: 30% signatures for new bargaining units and 50%+1 for ending union representation (Sec. 5a). It also requires school districts to hold referendums using 50%+1 signatures to challenge current union representation (Sec. 5d). The bill directly affects public-sector workers in state agencies and schools, altering how unions form and gain recognition.
H 402 would amend Vermont's Municipal Labor Relations Act to allow municipal supervisory employees to organize and collectively bargain, removing their current exclusion from the law. It also expands the definition of "municipal public safety employee" to include support staff working in public safety departments (like dispatchers or technicians), granting them bargaining rights. These changes would directly affect municipal supervisory staff and public safety support workers across Vermont towns and cities. The bill would take effect on July 1, 2025, if enacted.
H.174 changes Vermont's grievance process for state employees by requiring union contracts to use binding arbitration as the final step instead of the Vermont Labor Relations Board. This directly affects state employees, their unions, and state agencies handling workplace disputes, shifting resolution from the Board to independent arbitrators. The bill mandates that collective bargaining agreements include binding arbitration for grievances, sets deadlines for unfair labor practice cases, and specifies that arbitrators cannot alter union contracts. It exempts only certain grievances from the University of Vermont's retired employees, which remain subject to Board review. The change aims to reduce the Board's caseload while providing a standardized final step for workplace disputes.
H 256 would amend Vermont's Judiciary Employees Labor Relations Act to allow Judiciary supervisors to form unions and negotiate collective bargaining agreements. Currently, supervisors are excluded from the definition of "employee" under the law (Section 1011(8)(C)), but this bill removes that exclusion. The change directly affects supervisors within Vermont's court system who were previously barred from collective bargaining. The bill takes effect on July 1, 2025, after passing committee referral.
This bill changes when adjunct faculty at the University of Vermont and Vermont State Colleges can join a union bargaining unit. It requires the Labor Relations Board to allow adjuncts to be included in a bargaining unit starting on either the effective date of their employment contract or their first teaching day - whichever comes first. This makes it easier for new adjunct faculty to gain union eligibility immediately upon starting their role. The law takes effect on July 1, 2025.
H 173 would amend Vermont law to grant employees at public colleges and universities (including the Vermont State Colleges and University of Vermont) the right to strike, removing their current exemption from the general prohibition on state employee strikes. The bill specifically changes Section 903 to eliminate the existing exception and updates Section 962 to clarify that encouraging strikes by these employees is not an unfair labor practice. This change applies only to public higher education employees, not all state workers, and would take effect on July 1, 2025. The bill directly affects faculty, staff, and other employees at Vermont's public higher education institutions.
This bill (S 145) would amend Vermont's State Employees Labor Relations Act to explicitly include Assistant Attorneys General as "State employees" eligible for collective bargaining. Currently excluded from this right, Assistant Attorneys General working in State's Attorneys' offices would gain the ability to organize unions and negotiate wages, benefits, and working conditions with their employers. The bill achieves this by revising the definition of "State employee" in the law to remove the specific exclusion for Assistant Attorneys General. The change would take effect on July 1, 2025.
