Attorney Al Gordon O'Connell Defends Integrity of VSEA Bargaining Unit

On June 10, 2016, the Vermont Supreme Court handed Attorney Al Gordon O'Connell another victory in the assault on a bargaining unit of the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA) by a rival union, the New England Police Benevolent Association (NEPBA). The Court upheld the decision of the Vermont Labor Relations Board that the smaller unit sought by NEPBA was inappropriate under state law.

The matter first began in 2011, when the VSEA filed a petition - at the request of the 67 sworn law enforcement officers in the Departments of Fish and Wildlife, Liquor Control, and Motor Vehicles - to determine whether they could leave the 4700-member state-wide bargaining unit to form their own unit represented by the VSEA. In 2012, the Labor Board denied this request, stating concerns about over-fragmentation of units in State government and a lack of evidence that the existing structure impeded the employees' ability to address their concerns.

In 2014, NEPBA filed a petition with the Labor Board to remove the same unit of employees and seeking to raid them from the VSEA. The Labor Board dismissed that petition as untimely, and the matter was appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court, where Pyle Rome attorney Al Gordon O'Connell successfully defended the Board's decision. http://pylerome.com/recent/2015-03-27/vermont-supreme-court-rebuffs-unt…

In 2015, NEPBA filed a (timely) petition with the Labor Board again seeking to raid the sworn law enforcement officers from the VSEA unit. The VSEA filed a motion to dismiss, and the Labor Board gave NEPBA the chance to offer evidence that the facts had changed sufficiently in the intervening three years such that the previously petitioned-for unit was now somehow appropriate. NEPBA failed to make a showing by "substantial evidence," and the Labor Board dismissed the petition.

NEPBA appealed to the Vermont Supreme Court again, where Attorney Gordon O'Connell again represented the VSEA. In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Labor Board granting VSEA's motion to dismiss the petition, holding that the Labor Board had conducted an appropriate investigation into the matter and that NEPBA failed to prove it had grounds to disturb the existing unit structure.