Thursday 6:40 p.m. UPDATE

In the latest salvo in their increasingly bitter contract battle, Chittenden County Transportation Authority drivers have rejected pleas issued by both CCTA and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger to settle their differences in arbitration.

A day after voting 54-0 to reject CCTA's latest contract offer, drivers brushed aside a request from CCTA to have a neutral arbitrator decide the matter. Weinberger, in his most decisive move to date in the labor feud, had also urged drivers to go to arbitration.

“We rejected binding arbitration for the same reasons we rejected management’s last proposal," bus drivers' union spokesman Rob Slingerland said. "Management and their lawyer don’t have to live under the terms of their proposed contract. We do. Agreeing to binding arbitration does not move us closer to having safer working conditions, safer conditions for passengers and other drivers, or livable jobs. Those are our core demands and what is necessary to reach a settlement.”

Drivers say they plan to strike on Monday, shutting down nearly all CCTA bus routes. 

CCTA officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Contrary to Slingerland's assertion, the agency had said earlier in the day that an arbitrator's finding would be legally binding on both sides.

"I am encouraged by the prospect that the parties may engage in binding arbitration," Weinberger said in a statement earlier in the day. "This process is one the City of Burlington has used on occasion and is generally seen as a fair and substantive process for resolving contract disputes. For the good of the thousands of people who rely on CCTA service, I urge acceptance of this binding arbitration proposal or for the parties to identify and agree to some other viable option to resolve this dispute, thereby avoiding a damaging interruption of bus service."

Original Post, filed Thursday morning and updated mid-afternoon: 

Chittenden County Transportation Authority drivers unanimously rejected management's latest contract offer and said they plan to shut down the bus network next week with a strike. 

Drivers voted 54-0 Wednesday night against CCTA's latest offer, which was made over the weekend and forestalled a scheduled Monday strike. On Thursday afternoon, the drivers vowed to walk off the job Monday. 

"Drivers are calling for a fair contract that treats drivers with respect, avoids increasing driver fatigue and creates livable jobs," union spokesman Rob Slingerland said in a statement. "We are living in a world with more and more part-time jobs. People can't make ends meet with part-time labor. The drivers can't live under the terms of management's last proposal. That's why it was voted down in such a big way."

In response to the vote, CCTA asked the union to go to arbitration, where both parties would be obligated to accept the legally binding recommendation of a neutral evaluator.

“We’re disappointed the union has voted to strike. Disrupting service would impose an extraordinary burden on many Vermonters,” said Bill Watterson, CCTA General Manager. “Our most recent offer – which included generous pay increases and flexibility in work rules – was exceedingly fair, reasonable and respectful. CCTA is hopeful the Union will reconsider its decision to strike and agree to binding arbitration.”

The Burlington School Board went back to the drawing board Tuesday night, one week after residents repudiated a budget proposal that would have increased taxes by nearly 10 percent. 

It’s been more than a decade since Burlington voters struck down a school budget. As board members tried to sort out their options, it was clear they find themselves in unfamiliar territory.

At times, they sounded like political strategists, analyzing vote counts in various wards. At others, they sounded like marketers, discussing how best to “sell” Budget 2.0. Throughout, they sounded like people backed into an uncomfortable place.

“I didn’t get on our school board to decimate our schools,” said Meredith Woodward King (Ward 2). “I feel very uncomfortable in this position.”

In a memo to board members, Superintendent Jeanne Collins, wrote: “Given that 77% of our expenses are personnel related, reductions of personnel in a variety of programs and services must be made in order to meet the goals above.”

“Tweaking around the edges will not meet the goal,” the memo continued, “as there is not much left to tweak.”

Thread Magazine, Burlington's two-and-a-half-year-old arts and culture publication, has a history of serving as a mouthpiece for the Vermont Democratic Party. 

It has regularly featured Democratic candidates — and only Democratic candidates — on its news pages. It threw a campaign party for then-mayoral candidate Miro Weinberger days before his 2012 election. And it's invited readers to fundraisers for the Burlington Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood.

Now the connection is official. 

The VDP announced Tuesday that it's hired Thread's founder and publisher, Ben Sarle, as its new communications director. Sarle, a former freelance photographer for the Burlington Free Press, replaces Ryan Emerson, who stepped down in January to run for a Burlington City Council seat.

More than 150 people crowded into Burlington City Hall Auditorium Thursday evening to rally behind Chittenden County Transportation Authority drivers, who are threatening to strike on Monday if they do not get an acceptable new contract this weekend.

Speakers at the event, including drivers and representatives of other local unions, accused CCTA leaders of treating drivers harshly and negotiating in bad faith.

As 25 other drivers stood behind him, bus driver Mike Walker said the CCTA management team "insists on having all the authority, but none of the responsibility — a management team that wants to drive a bus from a desk."


CCTA and its drivers have failed to reach an agreement on a new contract despite holding nearly a dozen negotiating sessions since last summer. In February, drivers voted 53-4 to reject CCTA's most recent contract offer.

While the Teamsters Local 597, the drivers union, and CCTA have largely agreed on salary and benefits, drivers say they are unhappy with their working hours and conditions, and what some speakers described as "predatory management."

In particular, drivers are critical of CCTA's increasing use of split shifts — working during the morning and evening commutes, with a few hours of rest in between — and say the agency would like to hire more part-time drivers.

Chittenden County State Sen. Phil Baruth echoed that, saying he was concerned that CCTA's management was determined to weaken the union and eventually trim the number of full-time drivers.

"It's part of a larger anti-union context," Baruth, a Democrat, told the crowd. "These little niggling things that aren't about money now...will be about money and full-time jobs down the road."

Negotiations are scheduled for Saturday. Rallies in support of the drivers have been organized for Saturday morning at CCTA headquarters and Sunday afternoon at the Vermont Workers' Center. 

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, state chair of the Vermont Progressive Party and a former Burlington city councilor, criticized Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger for failing to get involved in the dispute. Weinberger has issued a couple of  short public statements urging a settlement, but has not entered the fray. He also declined Seven Days requests for an interview on the subject.

Burlington voters today overwhelmingly approved three ballot measures designed to tighten control of residents' access to firearms, setting up a potentially tricky decision for Gov. Peter Shumlin and state lawmakers in coming weeks.

Residents voted 5,194-2,517 to ban firearms in businesses with liquor licenses; 5,579-2,066 to allow police to seize firearms after responding to domestic abuse incidents; and 4,351-2,971 to require gun owners to store firearms safely. 

All three changes to the city's charter will now be forwarded to the Statehouse — legislators must approve all charter changes. Shumlin, who has resisted gun-control efforts in the wake of the Connecticut school shooting, has refused to say whether he will sign the changes into law, and many legislators have been wary of wading into the gun-control debate.

The most interesting test for Burlington's three gun-related charter change proposals could come well after voters have their say next Tuesday.

That's because, like any change to the city's charter, all three measures would require affirmative votes by the legislature and the signature of Gov. Peter Shumlin. And while Vermont lawmakers have studiously avoided any debate of gun-related matters since a mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school 14 months ago, Shumlin has made perfectly clear that he opposes new gun regulations of any kind.

So what would happen if Burlingtonians approve the measures, which would ban guns from bars, require them to be locked when stored and allow the police to confiscate them from those suspected of domestic abuse?

I usually drive to Montréal  to report stories. Today — with a foodie experience at the Montréal en Lumière festival awaiting me up north — I figured it would be both relaxing and productive to take the bus instead. I rushed from work to catch the 12:01 from the Greyhound terminal at Burlington Airport, huffing and puffing my way into a seat just before the scheduled departure time.

About 10 minutes later, a Greyhound rep stepped onto the bus with an announcement. "We do not have a driver for this bus. You will have to wait for the 3:35," she told us. The other passengers immediately erupted with tremendous passion. "No! No! No!" one woman shouted repeatedly, her o's clipped in the French way and her hands cutting the air. "No! You need to find a driver!" yelled the woman behind me, while others echoed her. "You need to find a driver! This is outrageous!" shouted the man across the aisle.

A three-hour wait was certainly a nuisance, I thought, but the deep upset among the passengers was almost shocking. They continued to shout for a full minute until the rep — her face set in stone — curtly told them, "If you want to talk to me anymore, you can come inside. But I will not be shouted at."

Turns out, many of the 15 or so passengers on the bus had boarded in Boston around 11 p.m. the previous night. They arrived in White River Junction on time around 2 a.m., when their driver got off the bus — and never came back. A rep there told the passengers they would have to wait until the next morning to leave. The bus' door was left wide open, some of the passengers told me, so that they had to hunker down in their seats to stay warm. They had been scheduled to arrive in Montréal at 6:45 a.m., but the bus didn't pull out of White River until 10 a.m. the next morning.

Updated March 2 to correct an earlier error in the final paragraph.

When residents in Ward 7 head to the voting booths next Tuesday, they will choose between two political fledglings — Democrat Bianka Legrand and Republican Tom Treat — to fill their open city council seat.

Treat, 47, has lived in Ward 7 for 17 years, along with his wife and three children. An engineer at Koffee Cup Bakery, Treat said he’s followed national politics more closely than local politics, but he’s “kept on ear to the ground” on issues like school spending and the city’s pension system. Treat adds that his candidacy offers a chance for voters to keep at least some GOP representation on a council dominated by Democrats and Progressives. 

The Democrats’ hopes rest with Legrand, who has lived off and on in Ward 7 since moving to Burlington in 1997. She and her family came to the city as refugees, fleeing the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Legrand didn’t speak English when she arrived in Vermont as a 17-year-old. Now 33, she’s fluent, and she holds a B.A. in psychology from the University of Vermont and a master's in organizational leadership from Norwich University. 

The Burlington City Council unanimously assented to the terms of a settlement agreement reached with Citibank over the financial mismanagement of Burlington Telecom.

Councilor Karen Paul, D-Ward 6, described the Monday evening event as “historic.” But, as Council Dave Hartnett, D-Ward 4 later pointed out, few members of the public stayed to witness it. All but a handful of the residents in the audience had cleared out of the Contois auditorium by the time the vote took place late in the council's meeting.

Crowd or no, Mayor Miro Weinberger said the consensus — all 14 councilors co-sponsored and voted for the resolution — sends an important message to the Vermont Public Service Board (PSB), investors and lenders, whose approval and wherewithal will be key to the settlement plan’s success.

The city is settling the $33.5 million lawsuit brought by Citibank for $10.5 million and a share of the future value of Burlington Telecom (BT). The mayor announced the agreement earlier this month.

The deal, according to Weinberger, will allow BT to continue to operate, while minimizing the impact of its debt burden on taxpayers. He also expects it to restore the city’s credit rating, which dropped precipitously when BT was on the verge of financial collapse in 2009.

Ryan Emerson, the Democratic candidate for a city council seat in Burlington’s Ward 2, has withdrawn from the race. Emerson announced his decision Tuesday afternoon, the day after Seven Days inquired about past allegations of domestic violence brought against him.

On two separate occasions in 2005 and 2006, a Chittenden County judge issued relief-from-abuse orders against Emerson, after Sarah Hart, the mother of his child, complained of allegedly violent behavior.

During an interview on Monday morning, Emerson acknowledged the orders but said he'd closed that chapter of his life. “I went through a very dark period in my life with alcoholism and depression. Now seven years later, looking back, I’m a lot different person. Sarah and I have a great relationship now, and I’m just moving on.”

Emerson, 27, emailed this statement to Seven Days on Tuesday: "This campaign has been about the issues facing Ward 2. Out of respect of the voters, and not wanting to distract from those important issues, I am formally dropping out of this race. I wish Max Tracy well in his second term of faithfully serving our ward." 

The deadline for candidates to enter the race has passed, so Emerson’s decision clears the way for incumbent Max Tracy to secure a second term. He was the only Progressive candidate facing serious opposition. Emerson's announcement positions the party to up its representation on the 14-member council, from four seats to five. 

Emerson announced his bid for the Ward 2 seat in early December, and public safety was a cornerstone of his campaign.