Resignations from state employees' union board highlight divide between leadership and progressives

Board members of Vermont’s state employees union said they have long battled to support racial justice and denounce alleged abuse in the Department of Corrections — but have faced opposition from board leadership and top staff.

The divide has prompted multiple board members of the Vermont State Employees’ Association to resign, including Brett Pierce, who stepped down last month.

The Department of Public Safety employee said he spent years trying to convince the union to condemn alleged abuse by staff at the Chittenden Regional Correctional Facility and the now-shuttered Woodside Juvenile Rehabilitation Center. He said the union’s executive director, Steve Howard, kept the board from critiquing Corrections, and that the board’s president, Aimee Towne, would scream at board members who strayed from the party line.

“It just felt like I was wasting my time,” Pierce said. “I felt like there wasn't much I was accomplishing other than making my own life worse.”

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2022/06/06/resignations-from-state-employees-union-board-highlight-divide-between-leadership-and-progressives/