BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - The University of Vermont’s faculty union and the school administration on Wednesday agreed to settle a dispute related to fall reopening plans.
United Academics said it filed an unfair labor practice against UVM on June 30.
“The stipulated settlement states that the administration must continue to bargain in good faith and in a timely manner with the union,” United Academics said in a written statement.
UVM said in a statement that it’s pleased to engage with the union on topics that impact faculty working conditions though faculty have been participating in the work that an advisory committee has been doing on the reopening plans long before the union filed its claim. The president and vice president of the Faculty Senate are members of working groups doing the planning, along with six other Faculty Senate representatives, and all are union members, the school said.
Wednesday’s agreement will enable United Academics to invite one more member on each of the UVMStrong committees, UVM said.
“We are confident that the UVMStrong strategies that we have outlined-including testing and quarantine requirements, mask-wearing, density and distancing measures and multiple instruction modalities-will enable UVM to offer a high-quality education in a safe and productive work setting for faculty and staff,” the school said.
United Academics represents more than 800 full and part-time faculty at UVM.
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MANCHESTER AREA CASES
The San Diego company that makes the virus testing equipment used by a Manchester clinic that reported almost 60 positive cases of the virus that causes COVID-19 that were not confirmed by follow-up tests by the Vermont Health Department is going to have a representative in Manchester this week to investigate.
“The clinic believes that their positive test results are accurate,” said Jeannine Sharp Mason, the director of marketing for Quidel Corp. “At this time, there is nothing to indicate a failure of the Quidel test system.”
On Tuesday, Vermont Health Department said 80% of the 65 patients who tested positive for the virus after taking an antigen test have been re-tested and only four were confirmed positive.
“We don’t want to get ahead of the facts in Manchester, but we will work tirelessly with authorities there to determine the truth and respond accordingly,” Mason said.
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THE NUMBERS
Vermont reported two new cases of the coronavirus on Wednesday for a total of 1,366 since the pandemic began. No new deaths have been reported for over a month. The total number of people who have died from COVID-19, the illness caused by the virus, is 56. So far, a total of 1,152 people have recovered.
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