Click here to view the following announcement in PDF format.
Dear Faculty,
In this latest, most contagious Omicron surge, UVM needs to provide adequate resources and protocols to prevent infection for its faculty and other community members. UVM’s expectations for faculty are to teach in person, to teach in overcrowded classrooms, and to be available to teach (ie., to not only avoid COVID, but also to avoid having to care for family members). UVM should then take steps that ensure that faculty can safely and reasonably meet these expectations.
We have outlined key preventative measures that UVM has not currently taken, but could reasonably take.
1. UVM BCBSVT insurance does not cover rapid tests
Here is the current situation:
UVM’s BCBSVT insurance does not cover rapid antigen COVID tests, forcing faculty with dependents and those without access to on-campus testing to locate rapid tests and pay for them out of pocket.
This places undue burden on covered faculty household members, including faculty with children school-age and younger, many of whom are still ineligible for vaccination. It also creates an unnecessary obstacle to self-testing, a key tactic to prevent viral spread that is increasingly relied on by our state and communities.
Here is what we are doing:
United Academics asked the UVM administration to cover rapid tests for covered employees. UVM has not responded to our request.
As a self-insured entity, UVM has the power to ensure rapid tests are covered. It should do so.
Here is what we need from you:
We need faculty to contact the Provost and UVM’s Benefits Administrator (Patricia.Prelock@uvm.edu and Greg.Paradiso@uvm.edu) to request the coverage change.
2. No direct provision of medical-grade masks
Here is the current situation:
UVM does not directly supply N95 or KN95 masks, but does allow faculty to use professional development funds to buy medical-grade masks (in response to UA’s request for this exception).
Here is what we are doing:
During this pandemic, an adequate mask is a piece of equipment necessary to performing the job of teaching in person. Equipment necessary for work should be provided by the employer. We are continuing to urge UVM to directly provide medical-grade masks to employees. While using Professional Development Funds is preferable to paying out-of-pocket, this is not the intent for PD funds. UVM should be providing these masks. During this surge, UVM should also insist that students wear medical grade masks in campus buildings.
Cloth and surgical masks have shown to be inadequate defense against the Omicron variant. Universal access to and use of medical-grade masks would help prevent community spread.
Here is what we need from you:
Contact Gary.Derr@uvm.edu to request that UVM cover medical grade masks. If you have paid for masks using PDFs or out of pocket, or if you have paid for students’ masks, please share your story with us.
3. Modality change process is slow to respond to faculty needs during a surge
Here is the current situation:
UA negotiated a reasonable modality change process during COVID-related impact bargaining in 2020. Variant surges, in combination with health conditions in individual faculty members’ households (eg., immunocompromised or vaccine-ineligible family members), mean some faculty members need to pivot quickly to protect the health of themselves and their families. The process to change modalities currently is slow, may result in a denial even in circumstances that warrant going remote, and can involve getting a doctor’s note and ADA process for long-term changes.
In addition, high enrollment and the hiring freeze in CAS has created an environment in which classrooms are not only not socially distanced – they are overcrowded. Combined with inadequate mask access, insufficient testing, and inadequate contact tracing, many faculty members feel unsafe in the classroom.
Here is what we are doing:
United Academics is asking UVM for flexibility and a swift modality change process, respecting individual faculty who have good reason to pivot quickly to online learning – just as UVM had good reason to pivot quickly to online learning in spring 2020 and expected faculty to instantly adapt.
Here is what we need from you:
Please share your story, concerns, and questions about course modality changes by emailing info@unitedacademics.org
4. UVM denies UA’s contact tracing grievance
Here is the current situation:
In November 2021, UA grieved UVM’s violation of the Safety and Health articles in our collective bargaining agreements regarding employee exposure to and lack of sufficient COVID contact tracing in classrooms, office spaces, and laboratories. Earlier this week, UVM denied our grievance.
Here is what we are doing:
We are considering whether and how to move forward with this grievance. Our objective in raising this is to ensure that the UVM administration best protects all faculty, staff, and students, including through proper contact tracing.
Here is what we need from you:
Please reach out with concerns about specific cases of COVID transmission and contact tracing in your classroom, either from last semester or as we go forward into this semester.