The University of Vermont’s Board of Trustees approved the collective bargaining agreement between the university and UVM Staff United, the non-faculty union, on Tuesday after more than a year of negotiations, ushering in a new three-year contract for the union.
The contract includes wage increases, small annual bonuses and other benefits — like a raise in the cap on the number of hours an employee can draw from a collectively held bank of sick days and an end to a six-month waiting period for new employees to enroll in dental insurance. It also sets a higher minimum wage for hourly workers, to $20.80 starting in the first pay period after ratification.
“We are relieved that this long struggle has concluded, and we will finally have the money we have earned in our pockets,” union co-president Ellen Kaye said in an interview.
The university and Staff United have been negotiating a new contract since February 2024, and the previous contract expired in July 2024. The new contract includes a provision for a 4% base salary increase that retroactively covers the period since that last contract expired. Base salaries will increase 3.75% starting July 2025, and 3.5% in July 2026.
“This new contract demonstrates a sincere, mutual commitment to this important relationship and sets the stage for more shared success over the next three years of working together,” UVM Chief Human Resources Officer Chris Lehman wrote in a press release.
Kaye said that over the span of negotiations the union members — all of whom hold non-faculty and non-custodial jobs at the university, such as librarians, research assistants, administrative assistants — have used “every tool at our disposal” to achieve these gains.
The new contract opens up a pathway for the university to implement a career path structure that should make it easier for employees to move up, Lehman said in an interview. He said he sees the ability to implement the program as one of the biggest gains in the new contract.
Essentially, Kaye added, it gives union employees the right to bargain about why workers are placed in a certain job category, while preserving the right to negotiate.
Kaye said that wages have been the biggest sticking point for the union, given that about 70% of the union members still do not make a liveable wage in line with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s determination for the Burlington area — a household of one person would qualify as low income in 2024 if the annual income was less than $66,600.The median income among members before this raise was $55,000 annually, Kaye said.
To close the negotiations, the union had to make concessions on base salary — “I will say we came closer to (the university’s number) than they came to us on wages,” Kaye said — but the contract maintained all of the workers’ other demands.
Lehman said university leaders made the salary decisions in accordance with the current job market, consulting against a range of industry platforms to understand what is appropriate.
The ultimate agreed-upon salary increases are still not up to a livable wage for the Burlington area, Kaye said, but they’re a start.
“Now our focus is on the fact that we have a bigger fight on our hands, with the (federal government’s) attack on higher education. We are looking forward to working in concert with the university against the challenges to higher education,” Kaye said.
