If you want to know what power, solidarity and hard work look like, look no further than our brothers and sisters of the Rutland Northeast Education Association Paraeducators and Bus Drivers Unit. Last night, the union’s negotiating team reached a tentative agreement on a two-year deal that holds health insurance costs steady and provides for a 3 percent raise. The nearly 80 members decided to make it clear to the boards that they were going to strike Nov. 16 unless a deal was reached – and this came about only after the boards imposed working conditions in June. More details and full accounting of their actions will come in December’s Vermont-NEA Today, but, in the meantime, join all of us at Vermont-NEA in congratulating them on their hard work and determination. “I am so incredibly proud of my fellow members,” Vermont-NEA President Martha Allen said. “Their dedication to their students, to each other and to all 3 million NEA members nationwide is why they have a settlement today.”
