By the Journal-Opinion

The Blue Mountain Education Association has filed an unfair labor practices charge with the Vermont Labor Relations Board. In a news release, NEA-Vermont said the filing was made on Monday. 

The move comes after the school board twice voted this summer to reject a proposed three-year collective bargaining agreement with the school’s teaching staff after months of negotiations. The board approved a separate three-year CBA with the support staff in July. 

While board members cited cost concerns in their votes, the NEA said in its release that the CBA’s rejection was retaliation for reports of “widespread discontent with the leadership of the district’s superintendent.”

Jessica Roy, the Blue Mountain union president, said that the board’s blaming its actions on the pact’s effect on property tax hikes and the state’s nascent school consolidation law was, in a word, “hogwash.”

In response, Orange East Supervisory Union Administration issued a statement to media:

“Assertions that the Superintendent acted out of personal retaliation are completely unfounded, as decisions regarding labor contracts are driven strictly by governance and fiscal reality, not personal feelings or union listening tours. Under Vermont law (16 V.S.A. § 563), the legal authority to approve or reject collective bargaining agreements rests solely with the elected School Board, whose vote reflected its fiduciary duty to evaluate the long-term impact of salary increases on local property taxes.”

Blue Mountain’s teachers and support staff have different collective bargaining agreements than the remainder of Orange East Supervisory Union, a legacy of when Blue Mountain formed a distinct supervisory union from Orange East. They merged into a single supervisory union in 2018.

Meanwhile, negotiations between Orange East Education Association and the OESU Board have reached an impasse.  

The JO will have more in next week’s print edition.