Vermont Labor Board tells SVSU to pay teachers back pay

The Southwest Vermont Supervisory Union must repay the district’s teachers all back wages in a lump sum within 30 days, the Vermont Department of Labor has ruled. A teachers' strike in the district ended last October 31 with a new contract.
In a decision released laast Friday, the Labor Department ordered the district to live up to the terms of the three-year contract with the Southwestern Vermont Education Association and to follow state law.
‘We are pleased that the Department of Labor recognized the district was wrong in withholding payment of excess health insurance premiums and back pay called for in the contract we negotiated,’ said Stephannie Peters, a teacher at the Career Development Center and president of the Southwestern Vermont Education Association, the union representing more than 310 teachers in the Bennington area. ‘We hope the central office will comply with the order and stop the incessant delays and excuses it has used for months.’
The order also says that should the district fail to make the lump sum payments ‘ the contract signed after a nine-day strike in October is retroactive to July 1 ‘ the department could consider the failure a willful withholding of wages. Should that occur, the district’s taxpayers could be liable for almost $2 million worth of fines.
‘Now is the time for the district to put the strike behind us and simply comply with the law,’ Peters said. ‘We trust that district officials will now do the right thing and stop subjecting the taxpayers, teachers, parents and students of our communities to this unfortunate side-show.’
Vermont NEA