Reported by VTDigger on May 16th. The story begins:
The University of Vermont’s faculty union filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the Vermont Labor Relations Board on Tuesday, alleging that the university’s administration is improperly increasing faculty members’ workloads.
… The dispute stems from a university-wide shift to a new “learning management system,” or educational software platform. Faculty are expected to begin using that new system by the fall, United Academics said in a Tuesday press release, a switch that the union argued is labor-intensive and should qualify as an added workload.
The full story can be found here. It also links to a commentary by UA president Ellie Miller, along with Ellen Kaye and Rachel Wallace-Brodeur, representing UVM Staff United, titled, “UVM unions call out administration’s collective bargaining agreement violations,” which appeared on Vermont Business Magazine’s website on May 9th. That article can be found here. It states in part:
While union-busting in America is commonplace, it’s traditionally been a tactic in the corporate realm. Under the administration of President Garimella, however, the University of Vermont, a public university, has come to resemble a corporation in its leadership and governance.
Instead of seeing employees as partners with a shared mission, this administration doubles down on its authoritarian tendencies, making hasty, costly decisions without consulting the faculty, staff and students affected. Instead of honoring its collective bargaining agreements with its unions, this administration flouts them with tactics borrowed directly from the corporate playbook.