After a months-long search, the Vermont State Employees Association has finally named a new executive director.
Mark Mitchell comes to Vermont by way of San Francisco, where he most recently served as a labor representative for the California Nurses Association. He fills the position departed by Jes Kraus, who left the VSEA to take a job at UVM.
Mitchell joins the labor organization as it continues to feel its way with the Democratic governor it helped elect last year. The relationship between the VSEA and the Shumlin administration has been a rocky one, to say the least. Shumlin won plaudits from pro-labor groups earlier this year when he went toe-to-toe with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker over workers’ rights. He has since alienated some of those same groups by taking to task the approximately 90 state workers who filed an Irene-related labor grievance.
“It’s great to be joining the VSEA family, and I look forward to working with Vermont state employees to protect and enhance the historic wage, benefit and working condition victories of all the VSEA members who came before them,” Mitchell said in a statement.
Mitchell arrives as the VSEA preps for what could be a acrimonious battle over state employees’ next labor contract. The VSEA will be looking for a restoration of the 3-percent pay cut they absorbed two years ago to help the state out of a fiscal jam. Administration Secretary Jeb Spaulding has not thus far indicated a willingness to capitulate.
Mitchell sought to strike an optimistic early tone.
“Coming from California, I know how hard it is out there for working people in these tough economic times. Vermont has not been immune, and a lot of state employees have been impacted, but, now, working with a Governor and Legislature that VSEA members helped elect, I’m hopeful Vermont can be a model for the rest of the nation, in terms of seeing the results of a respectful and collaborative relationship, as opposed to a combative one,” he said.
Prior to working for the CNA, Mitchell, a labor professional and lawyer, was employed by the Florida Education Association, IFPTE Local 20 (Engineers and Scientists), AFSCME District Council 36, the American Guild of Musical Artists, the Writer’s Guild of America and the International Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, according to a VSEA press release. His duties ran the gamut, from lawyer to organizer to business agent to negotiator to strike coordinator.
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