IBEW Local 2326 Wins Vermont Unemployment Benefits for FairPoint Strikers

On November 10, 2015, the Vermont Employment Security Board upheld the right of striking FairPoint workers in Vermont to receive unemployment benefits for their four-month strike. In a case argued by Attorney Al Gordon O'Connell on behalf of the IBEW claimants, the Vermont unemployment agency affirmed the decision of an Administrative Law Judge that hundreds of striking union members were entitled to benefits because FairPoint failed to establish that the labor dispute led to a "substantial curtailment" of operations such that benefits should be denied.