UVMSU Elections Are Coming Up!
We will be holding UVMSU Board elections this fall from Monday, October 23 8AM-Friday, October 27, 7PM. Nominations will be open from Monday, September 18th 8AM-Friday, September 29 at 7PM. We will share a form by which you can nominate others or yourself for any of the positions listed below when nominations open. We will also be hosting two informational sessions via Zoom on Wednesday, September 20 and September 22 at noon for anyone interested in running who has questions. See member emails for Zoom registration.
Under our union’s constitution, terms for positions are staggered, meaning that roughly half our Board is up for election each Fall. This year, in addition to positions that are normally up for election this cycle, we are going to have anyone who was appointed to an interim role stand for election in addition to holding elections for any vacant Exec/Area Steward positions. Any member is able to be nominated (either by someone else or themselves) for the following positions:
Executive
Co-President B (Currently held by Rachel Wallace-Brodeur)
2 Co-Lead Stewards (Currently held by Kara Williams & Danielle Parent)
Communications Lead (Currently held by Cameron Ishee)
Membership Lead (Currently held by Amanda Broder)
Social Educational Lead (Currently held by Claire Whitehouse)
Area Stewards
Athletics/PACE/CALS (AS B)
CAS (Currently vacant)
CESS/CEMS/CNHS (Currently held by Elizabeth Allen)
DOSA/DDEI/VPAASS (AS B)
ETS/EPSCoR/Libraries (Currently held by Jack Roberts)
LCOM A (Currently Vacant)
LCOM C (Currently held by Julia Shaw)
LCOM D (Currently Vacant)
At Large (Currently vacant)
Job Descriptions
Co-President B
Time Commitment: 10-20 hours/week
Current activities
Spokespeople for union
Lead negotiators
Guiding strategy
Guiding principles
Moderating/facilitating meetings
Writing/crafting the narrative
Set priorities in collaboration with members
Sets tone internally and externally
Build coalitions/solidarity across UVM and the broader community
Advocate for legislative priorities
Helps manage finances in collaboration with Treasurer
Aspirational
Continue to develop a proactive strategy for growing our union
Continue to develop member leaders
Skills
10,000 foot view
Strategic thinking
Transparency
Strong communication/Listening
Public speaking
Collaborative
Trustworthy
Decisive
Vision-help people see what can be different
Meetings
Exec (Weekly)
Board (Monthly)
Labor-Management (2x/month)
Servicer check-in (Weekly)
Bargaining/Bargaining Prep Mtgs (Varies)
Sick Bank Committee (Varies)
Professional Development Committee (Varies)
AFT board (Monthly)
Cross union leadership (As needed)
Co-Lead Stewards
Time Commitment: 20 hrs/week
Current activities
Answer contract questions from members
Solicit, file, and support/attend grievances
Support area stewards
Train area stewards
Support strategic planning; big picture strategy and strategic approaches to issues
Identify larger system trends
Develop strategies to address larger system trends
Facilitate Area Steward meetings
Aspirational
Combining big picture and small picture analysis
Expanded Organizing approach to grievances
Expanding the educational approach
Formalizing on-boarding of Area Stewards
Sharing information with Communications Lead
Implementing enhanced grievance tracking system
Area Stewards lead first step of grievances (i.e. build AS skills)
Build bigger network of empowered staff, including trainings
Process for balancing grievance load between Co-Lead Stewards
Expand strategizing circle for grievances, for example through a Grievance Support Committee
Building Union Advocates; empowering them and involving them in more activities, such as some meetings with area stewards
Engaging Area Stewards in communications to Union Advocates and Area Clusters
Skills
Creative problem solving
Interpersonal skills
Contract & policy interpretation
Analysis
Educational approach
Flexibility
Detail oriented
Meetings
Exec (Weekly)
Board (Monthly)
Labor/Management (2x/Month)
As needed:
Area Stewards
Members
Clusters
Labor/Employee Relations
Communications Lead
Time Commitment: 5-10 hrs/week
Current activities
Develop/send Member communications (mostly email)
Social media
Visual creation
Coordinate with Exec on
Update website content
Design promotional materials (e.g. stickers, flyers, etc.)
Branding
Lead Communications Committee
Aspirational
Further development of UVMSU branded templates
Tested survey templates
Further develop Comms Committee
Messaging and language to support Area Stewards
Area Steward repository
Expanded Slack training
Podcast
Incorporate more creative art
Skills
Using communication tools to build power
Strong written and verbal communication
Graphic design
Web development
Social media (Facebook, Instagram)
Use/Manage tech tools (Zoom, Canva, Database, Email CRM)
Video creation/editing
Meetings
Exec (Weekly)
Board (Monthly)
AFT servicer (As needed)
Communication Committee (As needed)
Membership Lead
Time Commitment: 2-5 hrs/week
Current activities
Manages New Employee Orientation (NEO)
Email new employees
Assist w/data entry
Attending/Facilitating weekly NEO sessions
Follow-up w/new members and potential members
Checking in with HR on NEO, membership card processing
Work with Social/Education and Communication on building membership
List management: generating and sharing with Exec, Area Stewards, etc.
Assist with new organizing in coordination with the Board, Stewards, and AFT-Vermont
Aspirational
Establish membership team/committee
Recruiting new members (outside NEO)
Rounding/Welcoming new members in-person
Training on organizing conversations
Skills
Relationship building/Interpersonal communication
Attention to detail
Not afraid to ask new employees to join our union
Data management skills
Meetings
Exec (Weekly)
Board (Monthly)
NEO (Weekly on Monday mornings)
All-Member (As needed)
Social & Educational Lead
Time Commitment: 5-7 hrs/week
Current activities
Foster community among the membership
Plans/Hosts Lunch and Learn events
Program planning
Collaboration w/ Comms Lead around event promotion
Rallying volunteers to help w/events
Pulse of what people need for community building
Plans/Hosts parties
Supports community building across our union
Educational event topic selection
Running Soc/Ed Committee
Collaborates w/Exec Committee and Treasurer on event budgets
Advocacy
Campus community education (students, faculty, etc)
Aspirational
Broader labor movement education
Making opportunities to for member engagement
Educational calendar/planning ahead
Empowering union members to plan
1 event/touchpoint per month
3 bigger celebrations per year
Events calendar on website
New activity ideas
Summer brown bag lunches on campus
Round table
Book club
Movies
Coordinate with other Exec Committee members to identify
Longer term education
Responding to current events
Build Soc/Ed committee
At least one in-person activity outside of Chittenden county
Skills
Event planning and management
Strong written and verbal communication
Enthusiasm
Fun
Commitment to community building
Networking
Empowering volunteers
Meetings
Exec (Weekly)
Board (Monthly)
Soc/Ed Committee (As needed)
All-Member (As needed)
Area Stewards
Time Commitment: 3-4 hrs/week
Current activities
Meetings with peers at mutually convenient times regarding contract questions, grievances, disciplinary issues
Submit grievances to Admin
Conversations with union leaders and other Area Stewards to discuss issues, trends in Area Cluster
Submitting information requests for fact-finding
Identify and recruit potential Union Advocates in their Area Cluster
Aid the Co-Lead Steward in ensuring proper training and mentorship for Union Advocates
Work with the Membership Lead to maintain the membership list (updated membership and contact information) of their Area Cluster.
Help distribute union updates/information, work with Union Advocates to share updates/information
Meetings
Board (Monthly)
With other members (As needed)
Union Advocates (Not elected, no limit on number of Advocates)
Time Commitment: Varies, potentially 1-2 hrs/week
Current Activities
Attend Steward trainings and meetings.
Assist the Area Stewards with grievance processing and contract enforcement, submitting all grievances processed in their area to the Area Steward for review and submission.
Attend Weingarten and grievance meetings between bargaining unit employees and supervisors when requested by a bargaining unit employee in order to represent the bargaining unit employee.
Share information with other union members about upcoming union actions/meetings