by Media Team | Mar 5, 2024 | News
This commentary by VWC vice president Karen Saunders was published in VTDigger and the Brattleboro Reformer, Manchester Journal, Barre-Montpelier Times Argus, and Rutland Herald. “I’m a single mom who just got kicked off of Medicaid. There is no way I can afford a...
by Media Team | Mar 3, 2024 | News
On March 2nd, VWC members joined the Vermont Poor People’s Campaign for a rally and march in Montpelier to abolish poverty as the 4th leading cause of death in the US — part of day of action at 33 state houses across the country. Watch the WCAX story here,...
by Media Team | Feb 11, 2024 | News
On February 11th, Vermont Workers’ Center leaders gathered in White River Junction for our Winter Leadership Retreat to reflect on the past year, launch our Spring Tour, and set a course for 2024. Check out the video below, recorded at the...
by Media Team | Feb 1, 2024 | News
On February 1st, three VWC leaders — Andy Lindquist, Erin Kellar, and Kate Kanelstein — along with Abel Luna of Migrant Justice and UVMMC Support Staff United President Heather Bauman testified to the Vermont House Healthcare Committee in favor of H.721, the Medicaid...
by Media Team | Jan 18, 2024 | News
On January 17th, VWC Director Kate Kanelstein spoke at a Statehouse press conference announcing the formation of a new Universal Healthcare Caucus. Read an article in Vermont Public about the effort here. [Photo: Zoe McDonald / Vermont Public]
by Media Team | Jan 13, 2024 | News
“On Friday — the same day as a raucous Statehouse rally against the Medicaid removals — Vermont lawmakers announced a sweeping proposal to expand Medicaid access in the state.” On January 12th, VTDigger interviewed VWC member Erin Kellar and covered the...
by Media Team | Jan 12, 2024 | News
On January 12th, dozens of people packed the Statehouse Cedar Creek Room to demand the right to healthcare, housing, education and freedom from incarceration — delivering hundreds of petition signatures to Governor Phil Scott’s office demanding a halt to the...
by Media Team | Jan 10, 2024 | News
Tens of thousands of low-income Vermonters are among those across the country who have lost access to Medicaid as a pandemic-era policy known as “continuous enrollment” came to an end earlier this year. That means many are paying more than they can afford for...
by Media Team | Nov 12, 2023 | News
On Saturday, Nov. 11th over 125 people gathered in Barre for the Vermont Workers’ Center’s 2024 Membership Assembly and 25th anniversary celebration — check out the photos below!
by Media Team | Oct 15, 2023 | News
From September 16-23rd, the Nonviolent Medicaid Army took action across the country. Check out the video from Montpelier here, and the roundup from the National Week of Action...
by Media Team | Aug 16, 2023 | News
This commentary by was published in VTDigger and the Times Argus, Rutland Herald, Bennington Banner, and Caledonian Record. With the Green Mountain Care Board’s approval of health insurance rate hikes on Aug. 8, premiums for Blue Cross individual plans have doubled in...
by Media Team | Aug 8, 2023 | News
Campaigners with the Nonviolent Medicaid Army condemned today’s decision by the Green Mountain Care Board to approve double-digit health insurance rate hikes and called for an extension of the state’s moratorium on Medicaid cutoffs through the month of August. [1]...
by Media Team | Jun 29, 2023 | News
This commentary was published in VTDigger and the Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. Over 1 million people nationally have been kicked off Medicaid since April, following Congress’ decision to end pandemic protections for Medicaid recipients. When Covid hit, it became...
by Media Team | Jun 7, 2023 | News
Come spend an evening with friends of the Vermont Workers’ Center to swap stories, share a meal, and sing old labor songs as we mark our 25th anniversary as an organization. 5pm, Saturday, Nov. 11th, 2023 Old Labor Hall, 46 Granite St., Barre REGISTRATION IS NOW...
by Media Team | May 18, 2023 | News
Today we showed up to support Emily as she appealed the state’s decision to cut her off from Medicaid and demanded healthcare for...
by Media Team | Apr 23, 2023 | News
Two VWC members were featured in this VTDigger story published on April 23rd—excerpt below. Photo Credit: Glenn Russell/VTDigger. Erin Kellar, 31, has lived most of her life with chronic disease and is careful to maintain insurance. But in 2020, knowing she would be...
by Media Team | Apr 12, 2023 | News
The biggest threat to Americans today isn’t from a foreign power. It’s from a long-running war on the poor by out of touch politicians and their Wall Street backers. The latest attack on working Americans even has a name: “The Unwinding.” If that sounds like the title...
by Media Team | Mar 30, 2023 | News
Montpelier—Vermont residents at risk of losing Medicaid are calling on lawmakers to protect them by fulfilling the promise of universal healthcare. Burlington resident Erin Kellar was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes during the pandemic. “Being insured with Medicaid...
by Media Team | Feb 11, 2023 | News
On Feb. 9th, the Burlington Free Press ran a story about the 29,000 people at risk of losing Medicaid in the coming year. Anders Aughey, a VWC member profiled for the article, was previously on Medicaid and is now on a Vermont Health Connect plan with a $224 monthly...
by Media Team | Feb 1, 2023 | News
VWC member Griffin Shumway was interviewed for a Feb. 1st Valley News story on the Medicaid cutoffs. Read the full story here; excerpts below. WHITE RIVER JUNCTION — Tens of thousands of residents in Vermont and New Hampshire could lose their health care coverage...
by Media Team | Jan 24, 2023 | News
VWC members Grace Beninson and Keith Brunner were interviewed today for a WCAX story on the Medicaid cutoffs. The story reads: “Medicaid coverage is just one piece of expanded pandemic aid that’s coming to an end. Funding for housing, food, telehealth, and other...
by Media Team | Jan 23, 2023 | News
From Jan. 21st-22nd, the Vermont Workers’ Center held our 2023 Winter Leadership Retreat, where members of our leadership bodies and statewide teams planned the next phase of the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign. Fifteen years ago, in the midst of the 2008...
by Media Team | Nov 11, 2022 | News
Yesterday, a delegation of VWC leaders and impacted community members delivered over 600 petitions to Governor Scott calling for the expansion of housing and healthcare measures implemented during the pandemic. Read the petition language below. We call on Governor...
by Media Team | Nov 10, 2022 | News
On Election Day Tuesday, Oregonians voted on Measure 111, deciding whether to become the first state in the country to enshrine healthcare as a human right into their constitution. “It is the obligation of the state,” reads the measure, “to ensure that every resident...
by Media Team | Oct 15, 2022 | News
by Media Team | Oct 10, 2022 | News
by Media Team | Oct 1, 2022 | News
On Sept. 18th, dozens gathered at the Unitarian Church of Montpelier to mourn, testify, and pledge to take action to end poverty and the denial of healthcare. We Cry Justice was co-organized by the VWC, Vermont Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral...
by Media Team | Jun 19, 2022 | News
by Media Team | Apr 20, 2022 | News
Over 100 people came out last weekend to reject plans to kick millions off of Medicaid in the coming months and demand public officials move forward together, and not one step back on our human rights. Check out the photos from this weekend’s activities...
by Media Team | Mar 18, 2022 | News
Do you have a healthcare story? Have you been forced to choose between paying rent or meeting other basic needs? Over 120 people joined this public forum to testify about how their families have been impacted by the housing and healthcare crises in Vermont. Watch the...
by Media Team | Jan 22, 2022 | News
(This OpEd by Karen Saunders was published in the VTDigger, Brattleboro Reformer, and Caledonian Record). In the final years of his life, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took up the Poor People’s Campaign — a crusade to unite the poor across color lines in a...
by Media Team | Sep 21, 2021 | News
Last week, hundreds of people across the country—from Alabama to Pennsylvania, Texas to Wisconsin—took action with the Nonviolent Medicaid Army to demand health care as a human right amidst a pandemic that has killed over 670,000 people. Check out...
by Media Team | Aug 16, 2021 | News
Today the Vermont Workers’ Center, along with 16 labor and community organizations, sent an open letter to legislators serving on the Task Force on Affordable, Accessible Health Care calling on them to champion human rights solutions to the health care...
by Media Team | May 26, 2021 | News
(This commentary by Jessica Morrison was published by VTDigger, the Bennington Banner, and St. Albans Messenger.) This session, Vermont’s lawmakers established a Task Force on Affordable, Accessible Health Care charged with soliciting public input and...
by Media Team | Apr 16, 2021 | News
On April 15th, VWC leaders Jessica Morrison, Grace Beninson, and Ellen Schwartz offered powerful testimony to the Senate Health and Welfare Committee as it discussed healthcare affordability and the future of the All-Payer model and OneCare contract. Grace Beninson...
by Media Team | Apr 8, 2021 | News
On April 7th, World Health Day, over fifty people rallied outside the Vermont statehouse calling on Governor Scott to put life over profit by treating healthcare as a human right. WATCH the Facebook Livestream of the World Health Day Rally. Demonstrators denounced...
by Media Team | Mar 16, 2021 | News
Join us on World Health Day to demand Governor Scott puts an end to privatization and profiteering in the healthcare system. Wednesday, April 7th at 4pmStatehouse Lawn, Montpelier (Courtyard by the Pavilion building)Can’t make it? Tune in to watch live on...
by Media Team | Feb 1, 2021 | News
Please join us this Valentine’s Day for candlelight vigils to mourn those we’ve lost and show our appreciation for those who live and work at Vermont’s nursing homes. Vigils will take place on Sunday, Feb. 14th from 4:30 to 5:30pm at four...
by Media Team | Oct 19, 2020 | News
Join us on Saturday, Nov. 14th and Monday, Nov. 16th for our Annual Membership Assembly & 22nd Anniversary Celebration, held virtually this year over Zoom. This year’s assembly will take place over two days: Saturday, Nov. 14th11am – 12pm: New Member...
by Media Team | Oct 7, 2020 | News
Last week, hundreds of people across the country marched for Medicaid and the human right to healthcare — from Madison, WI, to Fayetteville, NC, to Wilkes-Barre, PA — in a national week of action coordinated by the Nonviolent...
by Media Team | Sep 14, 2020 | News
Join the Vermont Workers’ Center and the Nonviolent Medicaid Army for a national Medicaid March week of action! Sept. 23: Medicaid March Online Art-Build (7pm, Website Event Here) Share on Facebook.Oct. 2nd: Medicaid Picket in Barre (4pm,...
by Media Team | Jul 1, 2020 | News
Join us on Tuesday, July 21st to speak out against health insurance rate hikes in the middle of a pandemic. Green Mountain Care Board Public ForumTuesday, July 21st, 4:30 – 6:30pmCall-in or join online via Microsoft Teams Fill out the form below to let us know...
by Media Team | Jun 1, 2020 | News
Over 50 people rallied Saturday at the headquarters of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Vermont and at the Vermont statehouse, calling on Governor Phil Scott to expand Medicaid to all Vermont residents, regardless of income or immigration status. Brattleboro resident Ellen...
by Media Team | Apr 22, 2020 | News
(Original letter here. Published in the Bennington Banner, Brattleboro Reformer, and VT Digger.) Dear Governor Scott, We are poor and working-class Vermont residents who are struggling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have lost our jobs,...
by Media Team | Apr 1, 2020 | News
Join the Health Care is a Human Right Campaign for an online Town Hall to discuss: How we can have each others’ backs through this crisisWhat this all means for poor and working-class families who were *already* struggling to make ends meetHow we can organize in...
by Media Team | Apr 1, 2020 | News
The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented public emergency. Thousands of people in Vermont require immediate attention to meet the basic needs of our families. Many of us have lost our jobs and are scrambling for an income. Schools and childcare centers are...
by Media Team | Feb 9, 2009 | News
Local residents testify about impact of healthcare crisis Where: Rutland Regional Medical Center, Conference Rooms 3 & 4, 160 Allen Street, Rutland, Vermont When: 7:00 PM, Thursday, February 12, 2009 What: For months, volunteers for the Vermont Workers’...
by Media Team | Feb 9, 2009 | News
Local residents testify about impact of healthcare crisis Where: Unitarian Universalist Meetinghouse, 108 School Street, Bennington, Vermont When: 7:00 PM, Thursday, February 19, 2009 What: For months, volunteers for the Vermont Workers’ Center...
by Media Team | Jan 25, 2009 | News
The State of Vermont has a budget shortfall and Governor Douglas says it should be done without raising new revenue but through program cuts that will primarily affect children, the elderly, and low income Vermonters. Join the Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC) and...
by Media Team | Jan 23, 2009 | News
No one doubts that we are living through difficult economic times. For many working-class Vermonters, the current economic crisis is simply an intensification of the long crisis that we have been experiencing long before the recent financial meltdown. For the last...
by Media Team | Jan 23, 2009 | News
Almost 600 hospital technicians at Fletcher Allen Health Care (FAHC) are organizing to form a union, as the nurses did back in 2002. The techs and nurses are now calling on FAHC Administration to recognize their right to organize and not waste thousands of healthcare...
by Media Team | Jan 22, 2009 | News
Local residents testify about impact of healthcare crisis Where: Old Labor Hall, 46 Granite Street, Barre, Vermont When: 7:00 PM, Thursday, January 29, 2009 What: For months, volunteers for the Vermont Workers’ Center have been...
by Media Team | Dec 23, 2008 | News
Report from Ordinance Committee:Last night, Burlington Livable City Coalition leaders Bekah Mandell and Chris Guros presented the suggested modifications to the lead paint ordinance and our Open Letter supporting the ordinance. The letter had been signed by about...
by Media Team | Dec 16, 2008 | News
Lunchtime Forum and Press Conference:Moratorium on the Budget Cuts and Layoffs, Full Disclosure of UVM’s Finances12-1 pm Wednesday, December 17Chittenden Room, Davis Center 4th floor, UVMSponsored by Students, Staff, and Faculty Together This week, as President...
by Media Team | Dec 14, 2008 | News
Burlington – Five hundred people participated in the day-long Ella Baker Human Rights Conference held on Dec 13, 2009. The conference was organized by the Vermont Workers’ Center and sponsored by forty-three other organizations. Excerpts of Closing...
by Media Team | Dec 9, 2008 | News
* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *December 9, 2008Contact: James Haslam, VT Workers’ Center, 802-272-0882, james@workerscenter.orgMore info: www.workerscenter.org/healthcarePRESS CONFERENCEAfter Surveying 1,200 Vermonters the Workers’ Center Releases A...
by Media Team | Dec 6, 2008 | News
At the Dec 13 Ella Baker Human Rights Conference at the Unviersity of Vermont we will be having a workshop entitled: The Human Right to Health & Healthcare Presenters/Facilitators:Dr. Deb Richter, Vermont Health Care For AllAnja Rudinger, National Economic and...
by Media Team | Dec 2, 2008 | News
7pm, Monday, Dec 8Vermont Workers’ Center, 294 North Winsooki Ave, Burlington Come join us on Monday, December 8th, 7pm, at the Vermont Workers’ Center, 294 No Winooski Ave. We will be watching “Fundi.” This 48 minute film is about the life and...
by Media Team | Dec 2, 2008 | News
On Saturday, December 13, the Vermont Workers’ Center, together with a wide variety of community organizations, is sponsoring the ELLA BAKER HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCE. The event will take place from 9am-3pm at the Davis Center at UVM. [ Register now ]...
by Media Team | Nov 11, 2008 | News
Human Rights Hearing: “Healthcare is a Human Right”St. Paul’s United Methodist Church,11 Church St., St. AlbansThursday Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m.(refreshments served at 7 p.m.) “Our current healthcare system simply leaves too many people behind, and...
by Media Team | Nov 11, 2008 | News
At the Vermont Workers’ Center, we believe that social change comes from below, from working people and community members coming together to demand justice from those in power. The promise of this election can only be made good by people organizing at the...
by Media Team | Nov 4, 2008 | News
From October 25 – November 2nd the Vermont Workers’ Center held seven workshops around the state on Anti-racism & Building A Social Justice Movement with trainers from the Catalyst Project. Participants included high school and college students,...
by Media Team | Oct 24, 2008 | News
WHAT: A series of full day anti-racism workshops for community members. It is a workshop which is meant for anyone actively engaged in efforts for social change (or would like to be). Each of these workshops will explore institutional racism, white privilege, and...
by Media Team | Oct 22, 2008 | News
Human Rights Hearing: “Healthcare is a Human Right” Where: Burlington City Hall, Contois Auditorium (149 Church St., Burlington)When: Thursday Oct 23 at 7:00 p.m. refreshments, 7:30 p.m. hearingBurlington – For months volunteers for...
by Media Team | Oct 8, 2008 | News
From our allies at the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI): Last night’s presidential debate addressed the key issue for health care reform in the United States: do candidates see health care as a right or as a commodity? [ NY Times...
by Media Team | Oct 3, 2008 | News
The following was submitted by a individual we surveyed this summer in Brattleboro. It was read in its entirety at the Human Rights Hearing in Brattleboro. Sept, 2008 I am a resident of West Brattleboro, Vermont. Earlier this month at Brattleboro’s Gallery...
by Media Team | Sep 30, 2008 | News
While attention has focused recently on the Wall Street financial crisis, working families in Vermont and across the country have been facing an economic crisis in recent years, including: unaffordable healthcare, the lack of livable-wage jobs, foreclosures and a...
by Media Team | Sep 30, 2008 | News
Brattleboro, VT — On the evening of September 25th more than fifty Brattleboro residents came to St. Michaels Episcopal Church to participate in the first Human Rights Hearing on Healhcare. This was the first of a series of hearings to be held throughout the state as...
by Media Team | Sep 23, 2008 | News
Statement from the Northrup Grummon workers UE Local 208:”On Friday Sept. 12th, UE Local 208 ratified its first Union contract. The contract contains a 9% wage increase over three years, an increase in benefits and other protections. The vote to accept the...
by Media Team | Sep 23, 2008 | News
Human Rights Hearing: “Healthcare is a Human Right” to be held at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Brattleboro, Thursday September 25 at 7:00 p.m. Brattleboro – For months volunteers for the Vermont Workers’...
by Media Team | Sep 15, 2008 | News
This resolution was approved unanimously September 14th at 2008 Vermont State Labor Council Convention: REAFFIRM OUR SUPPORT FOR SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE Submitted by: Washington-Orange-Lamoille and Champlain Valley Central Labor Councils & UAW Local...
by Media Team | Sep 4, 2008 | News
Support UE Local 208 on Monday, September 8th at 2:15 in a rally for a fair Union contract. UE Local 208 –USCIS Vermont Service Center workers– have been in a months-long struggle for a fair first union contract. The majority women workforce has not...
by Media Team | Aug 29, 2008 | News
Brattleboro Reformer, Labor Day Weekend Editorialhttp://www.reformer.com/localeditorials/ci_10330416(also ran in Burlington Free Press, Rutland Herald and Bennington Banner) By Dawn Stanger Friday, August 29 BURLINGTON — The Universal Declaration of Human Rights,...
by Media Team | Aug 21, 2008 | News
Northrop Grumman, one of the companies that employs service center workers fighting for a first contract in St. Albans, held an “ethics” themed poster contest. UE Local 208 Northrop Grumman employees created their own submissions to the contest. See more...
by Media Team | Aug 16, 2008 | News
This summer, volunteers and staff from the Vermont Workers’ Center have been asking working Vermonters a simple question — “Do you believe we have a human right to healthcare?” That question is part of a survey being conducted as the first phase of...
by Media Team | Aug 14, 2008 | News
Monday, September 1stPARADEPICNICCONCERTat BATTERY PARK PARADE: 10:30am gather at the Waterman Building parking lot, UVM off South Prospect Street, march down Main Street to downtown and end at Battery Park. FREE PICNIC: with Ben &...
by Media Team | Jul 22, 2008 | News
Last Wednesday, a delegation from the Canadian Labour Congress(shown above, with VWC Healthcare Organizer Erika Simard) visited the Workers’ Center. The visit was part of a week-long class called The Changing Face of the Canadian Labour Movement:...
by Media Team | Jul 19, 2008 | News
Health care as a human right?Written By Michelle MonroeWednesday, July 16, 2008 ST. ALBANS CITY — The Vermont Worker’s Center (VWC) has launched a statewide campaign to re-conceptualize health care as a human right and change what is “politically possible,” according...
by Media Team | Jul 4, 2008 | News
UPDATE: Over 60 service center workers and supporters from the VWC rallied in St. Albans on July 14, while USCIS workers in California took action as well.More » UE Local 208 USCIS Vermont Service Center workers need your support at their march and rally on July...
by Media Team | Jul 2, 2008 | News
The success of this campaign will depend on the efforts of hundreds and thousands of Vermonters — workers, students, retirees and folks on disability — reaching out to their co-workers, friends, neighbors and communities about the campaign. Please consider...
by Media Team | Jul 1, 2008 | News
The Workers’ Center is pleased to announced that we have hired a new organizer for the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign: Erika Simard, who lost her healthcare benefits three years ago when Specialty Filaments, the factory she worked at for 22 years, closed...
by Media Team | Jun 24, 2008 | News
Traven Leyshon, Workers’ Center Coordinating Committee member and President of the Central Vermont Labor Council, interview with Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin on their new book, Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path Towards...
by Media Team | Jun 16, 2008 | News
At its 10th Anniversery Celebration in the Old Labor Hall, the Vermont Workers’ Center officially launched the Healthcare is a Human Right Campaign, a new major statewide grassroots organizing campaign to change what is “politically possible” for healthcare...
by Media Team | May 5, 2008 | News
Livable Wage Victory for Burlington Food Service & Custodial Workers:Burlington, VT – After a three and a half year campaign, Burlington school food service and custodial worker of AFSCME Local 1343 won an agreement that will bring its all of its members up to a...
by Media Team | Apr 30, 2008 | News
A couple of weeks ago, VWC leader Jonathan Kissam sat down with the Radio Africa crew to discuss worker rights, protections, and advocacy campaigns. With limited English and lack of legal awareness, Vermont’s African-born community members are some of...
by Media Team | Apr 28, 2008 | News
Hello, thanks for joining us here tonight. Even though I feel I’ve told my story a thousand times, I will continue to tell it until I make a difference. I started at Specialty Filaments in 1983 at the age of 18. As a union member, I had good pay and excellent...
by Media Team | Apr 28, 2008 | News
At the Vermont Workers’ Center 10th Anniversary Dinner last night, 150+ people celebrated ten years of struggle, recognized workers’ victories from the past year, and kicked off the VWC’s new Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign. Barre...
by Media Team | Apr 27, 2008 | News
The Healthcare Is a Human Right Campaign, a project of the Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC), aims to change what is “politically possible” in the healthcare debate through grassroots organizing and a strategic reframing of healthcare as a basic human right and the...
by Media Team | Apr 25, 2008 | News
Four VWC leaders and staff attended the US Human Rights Network’s 2008 National Conference in Chicago this past weekend. They learned from and networked with others around the country who are applying international human rights standards to the...
by Media Team | Apr 16, 2008 | News
2008 SUMMER & FALL INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITIESThe Vermont Workers’ Center has openings for 2008 internship opportunities based in Burlington. We are offering great opportunities for anyone interested in workers’ rights, economic justice, community...
by Media Team | Apr 16, 2008 | News
The Vermont Workers Center – Jobs with Justice has an opening for a full-time organizer to coordinate our new “Healthcare Is A Human Right” grassroots organizing project. This position will be focused on building a statewide action network of...
by Media Team | Apr 15, 2008 | News
5pm, Sunday, April 27Old Labor Hall, 46 Granite StBarre, Vermont [ Map ] Join the us to celebrate a decade of fighting for workers’ rights. Solidarity Awards for victories and strugglesFree public event: enjoy great food (SugarSnap & American...
by Media Team | Mar 29, 2008 | News
On March 29, the second annual Vermont Workers’ Center Solidarity School concluded. 20 union members, students and community activists participated in three days of popular education, spread over six weeks. Participants sharpened their organizing skills,...
by Media Team | Mar 25, 2008 | News
6pm, Sunday, March 30thVermont Workers’ Center294 North Winooski Ave, Burlington Two fired United Auto Workers (UAW) members from Freightliner trucks in Cleveland, N.C. will be in Burlington on March 30. Allen Bradley and Robert Whiteside will speak about their...
by Media Team | Mar 11, 2008 | News
In 1776, Thomas Paine wrote: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.” In 1971, a...
by Media Team | Feb 29, 2008 | News
On March 8, 1908, working women in the needle trade industry took to the streets of New York City demanding better working conditions, higher wages, shorter workdays and the overall improvement of women’s lives in this country. This year, on the 100th...
by Media Team | Feb 20, 2008 | News
[published in the St. Albans Messenger, Saturday, Feb 16th in support of workers forming a union at Stanley Inc, a federal contractor at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service center in St. Albans] By James Haslam Since 1998, the Vermont Workers’ Center...
by Media Team | Feb 14, 2008 | News
6:30pm, Vermont Workers’ Center, 294 N.Winooski Ave. Burlington Talk by Ellen David Friedman, Vermont Workers’ Center founding member and long-time labor organizer is just back from a half-year in Guangzhou, where she is engaged in the Chinese labor movement at...
by Media Team | Feb 9, 2008 | News
After a very successful City wide Livable Wage Button Day in January the Burlington School District continues to drag their feet in negotiations with Burlington Food Service Workers and Maintenance Workers. Despite the livable wage victory for the Burlington...
by Media Team | Feb 4, 2008 | News
Join the Vermont Workers’ Center in saying Healthcare Is A Human Right! Thursday is the follow-up rally from the 200+ people who came to the Statehouse on January 9th to put H.304, the Universal Hospitalization Bill, back on the table. The Vermont WOrkers’...
by Media Team | Feb 4, 2008 | News
Social Justice Film Series, 7pm, Fri, Feb 8 Vermont Workers’ Center Social Justice Film Series presents:”SIR NO SIR” 7:00pm, Workers’ Center, 294 N. Winooski Ave, Burlington. Free public event. This powerful film that tells the untold story of...
by Media Team | Feb 2, 2008 | News
February 1, 2008: For the second day in a row, employees of a contractor of Stanley Associates at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Center have voted to join UE. Despite bad weather, workers employed by Northrup Grumman Technical Services Inc. traveled to NLRB...
by Media Team | Jan 31, 2008 | News
Labor intervenors in the regulatory oversight of the proposed sale of Verizon’s landlines to FairPoint Communications submitted testimony to the Vermont Public Service Board concluding that modifications to the transaction as proposed by settlements in Maine and...
by Media Team | Jan 29, 2008 | News
Burlington, VT – Members of the Burlington Livable City Coalition, representing hundreds of workers and community members across the city, stood in solidarity with Burlington School Support Staff, including food service workers, by wearing livable wage pins at...
by Media Team | Jan 25, 2008 | News
The Burlington Livable City Coalition invites you to where livable wage buttons at work and in the community on Jan 28th (and Jan 29th, too if you like) to support the food serive and other Burlington school support staff workers who still don’t earn a livable...
by Media Team | Jan 23, 2008 | News
Saturday, January 26BUILDING A MOVEMENT FOR WORKER JUSTICE CONFERENCE9am, UVM Davis Center (There is no-charge, use this link and click on Register at the bottom of the page to REGISTER RIGHT NOW)Check it out Jan 23rd story in Seven Days A major...
by Media Team | Jan 17, 2008 | News
Many Struggles, One Movement!Week of Action, January 20-28 Sunday, January 20Community Dinner and Information Fair on PUBLIC EDUCATION FUNDING & NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND 6pm, Lawrence Barnes Elementary, 123 North St, Burlington Sponsored by the Burlington Livable City...
by Media Team | Jan 8, 2008 | News
Healthcare Rally INSIDE The Statehouse, in MontpelierTOMMOROW: Wednesday, January 9, 11 am to 1 pmThe Vermont Workers’ Center urges members and supporters to join folks for this rally because we believe healthcare should be a basic right to every Vermonter the...
by Media Team | Jan 6, 2008 | News
Highlights of 2007, Movement Building in 2008 As 2007 began, the Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC) was focused on keeping the momentum of the Burlington Livable City Coalition after the 2006 contract victories for Fletcher Allen nurses (UPV/AFT Local 5221), Burlington...
by Media Team | Jan 3, 2008 | News
(Stanley workers speak at press conference in their St. Albans union office) On Thursday, the Vermont Workers’ Center organized a press conference with workers at Stanley Associates in St. Albans who are organizing with the UE and and elected officials to...
by Media Team | Dec 27, 2007 | News
Today, members of the Vermont Workers’ Center visited the Vermont offices of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to protest HUD’s plans to demolish thousands of units of public housing in New Orleans, without guaranteeing former...
by Media Team | Dec 26, 2007 | News
The Vermont Workers’ Center is pleased to announce that on January 26, workers, students, educators and health care providers from around the state will be gathering at Building a Movement for Worker Justice. This will be a three part conference, geared...
by Media Team | Dec 5, 2007 | News
On Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 3:30 pm members of the Burlington Livable City Coalition, a community coalition that works to ensure Burlington is truly livable for all its resident, held a candlelight vigil outside AFSMCE/School District negotiations asking the...
by Media Team | Nov 28, 2007 | News
The 2008 People’s Calendar celebrates the 10th Anniversary of the Vermont Workers’ Center and has great photos of workers’ rights struggles and victories in VT from the past decade (like the cover shot is from the 2002 Fletcher Allen nurses union...
by Media Team | Nov 26, 2007 | News
On January 26, 2008, people around the world will take to the streets for a worldwide mobilization to demonstrate that “Another World Is Possible,” and a determination to converge our many struggles — for workers’ rights, against war, for climate...
by Media Team | Nov 6, 2007 | News
Film: SiCKO film and Panel discussion about establishing a universal health care system [POST EVENT NOTE: Huge turnout, 350+, great job to all the organizers!!]6:00pm, Weds, Nov 14thCC Theater (Billings Theater), University of Vermont, BurlingtonFree Admission...
by Media Team | Nov 6, 2007 | News
294 N. Winooski Ave (next to Imani), Burlington (sign coming soon, above added in Photoshop). [ more about the center | photos from November 17 housewarming party ] We are very excited to have a real Vermont Workers’ Center space and its...
by Media Team | Nov 5, 2007 | News
Citizens to deliver message to Governor Douglas:“Don’t let Vermont take a wrong turn on the information superhighway!” Who: Seniors, clergy, first responders, teachers, elected officials, and telephone workers What: Short briefing at 10:30 AM for news media at the...
by Media Team | Nov 4, 2007 | News
Statement made at the BEA press conference November 1, 2007 James Haslam, Director, Vermont Workers’ Center The Vermont Workers’ Center is a statewide workers’ rights organization committed to fighting for workers’ rights. DO do this we work with folks across the...
by Media Team | Oct 30, 2007 | News
Hotline On The Road: The Vermont Workers Center is taking its popular Workers Rights Hotline on the road.We’ve invited officials from Vermont’s departments of Wage & Hour, Workers’ Compensation, and the Attorney General’s office to join the Hotline Staff in...
by Media Team | Oct 30, 2007 | News
Over two dozen members of the Vermont Workers’ Center and Vermont Labor Against The War marched in Boston on Saturday, October 27th as part of a national rallies against the war. See more photos See Boston Globe Story
by Media Team | Oct 22, 2007 | News
Matt Howard from Iraq Veterans Against The War (IVAW) spoke powerfully at the IVAW and Workers’ Center benefit show Friday night, where there was a big turnout despite some serious pouring rain outside. The weather delayed Bernie Sanders’ flight home, but...
by Media Team | Oct 15, 2007 | News
At 8:30pm on Friday, October 12th, the Burlington Education Association (BEA) and the Burlington School District reached a tentative contract agreement for Para-Educators. Details of the contract will be shared upon ratification. “For the past three years, Burlington...
by Media Team | Oct 15, 2007 | News
Doors open at 9pm! Come to dance and support the VT Workers’ Center and Iraq Vets Against The War. If you haven’t heard Matt Howard yet, don’t miss this opportunity. Bernie will be there also, schedule permitting. Email james [at] workerscenter.org...
by Media Team | Oct 11, 2007 | News
The Velan Valve workers reached an agreement last night and went back to work today. Mark Nadeau, IAM Local 2704 union president, he said they reached a compromise on health care insurance, still a hike but not as big as the company wanted. Thank you to everyone who...
by Media Team | Oct 10, 2007 | News
Dozens of nurses and community supporters celebrate outside Fletcher Allen Board of Trustees meeting after agreement to 24/7 Midwifery Program was restored. Community members, members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP), Vermont Livable Wage...
by Media Team | Oct 10, 2007 | News
This week 113 workers Velan Valve in Williston, who members of International Aerospace Machinists Local 2704 went on strike. Their contract expired on October 7th and workers voted to strike the factory instead of letting the company almost triple their health...
by Media Team | Oct 4, 2007 | News
Fletcher Allen Trustees Meeting: Come show your support of the midwives and make sure the agreement is in place to keep the 24/7 midwifery program. The efforts of the community and nurses union has resulted in a tentative agreement (see the Free Press...
by Media Team | Oct 1, 2007 | News
On Saturday, September 29th twenty members of the Vermont Workers’ Center (VWC) spent the day discussing priorities and next steps. In 2006, VWC members decided that they would prioritize leadership development and laid the foundation to start the VWC...
by Media Team | Sep 28, 2007 | News
Dozens of parents, community members and kids joined Fletcher Allen Health Care (FAHC) midwives and the president of FAHC nurses union UPV/AFT Local 5221, Jennifer Henry, RN. They came to ask questions and plan how to stop FAHC’s attempt attempt to eliminate the...
by Media Team | Sep 11, 2007 | News
Dozens of Burlington workers and residents attended Burlington School Board meeting to demand livable wages. Broad community delegation reads Board their statement: BURLINGTON LIVABLE CITY DELEGATION STATEMENT: “THE TIME FOR LIVABLE WAGES FOR BURLINGTON SCHOOL SUPPORT...
by Media Team | Sep 10, 2007 | News
Let’s Engage Our Members to Bring Our Troops Home . . .and Take Care of Them When They Return 70% of Americans are against the war in Iraq. Yet our political leaders have failed to end it. We must find new ways to force an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq. It...
by Media Team | Sep 5, 2007 | News
Remembering Our Past For Our Children’s SakeBy James HaslamBurlington Free Press My Turn, Labor Day, Sept 3rd, 2007(A longer version which ran August 30th in Bennington Banner can be viewed by clicking here) Labor Day has lost much of its original meaning....
by Media Team | Sep 4, 2007 | News
Salt of the Earth is the first and only film ever blacklisted in the U.S. Telling the story of a zinc mine strike in 1950-51, and produced using few professional actors (most of the actors are actual miners, many of them involved in the strike), the film shows workers...
by Media Team | Aug 18, 2007 | News
Rebecca Smith, BEA President and VWC USSF delegate This was easily the highlight of my first day. First off, I have never seen a room occupancy fire code violated so badly – there were so many people in the room we were literally knee to knee on the floor with no more...
by Media Team | Aug 14, 2007 | News
Workers’ Center members Kit Andrews and Tina Scanlon table at the Addison County Fair to Stop The Sale of Verizon. Verizon is trying to sell off its landlines in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine because they do not want to invest in the needed new fiber optic...
by Media Team | Aug 14, 2007 | News
Sept 3rd: 6th Annual Burlington Labor Day Parade & Celebration – Starting 10am at Burlington College, 95 North Ave, ending at Battery Park for free hotdogs, hamburgers, Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, face painting & fun activities. Speakers include...
by Media Team | Jul 30, 2007 | News
The VWC’s summer steering committee meeting brought new excitement, energy and leadership to the organization. In addition to many long-time steering committee members and representatives from VWC coalition members such as CWA, UE, SLAP and the Washington-Orange...
by Media Team | Jul 30, 2007 | News
Draft for discussion 1. a. Work more closely with Iraq Veterans Against the War & Military Families Speak Out. Including Workers Center/Iraq Vets Against the War Fundraiser October 19th. b.Identifying union members who are Iraq war vets, or...
by Media Team | Jul 17, 2007 | News
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi I’ve recently been inclined to exert myself in every way possible to advocate for social justice and to continue to wage a fight for people who are oppressed in my own community,...
by Media Team | Jul 17, 2007 | News
At the end of the month, VWC supporters will have two great opportunities to learn about Vermonters’ experiences at this exciting and important event. Most of the VWC members who went to the US Social Forum will be presenting a report at the VWC’s summer...
by Media Team | Jul 7, 2007 | News
Stay tuned for more reflections on the US Social Forum from the Vermont Workers’ Center members who went, but for now, here’s a collection of articles written by other people, as well as some videos and photos: ARTICLES:US Social Forum Forges Common...
by Media Team | Jul 2, 2007 | News
On Saturday night, the final plenary of the US Social Forum 2007 was a plenary on workers’ rights in the global economy. Stewart Acuff, AFL-CIO Director of Organizing (who spoke at the Burlington Labor Day parade last year), eloquently detailed the class war...
by Media Team | Oct 26, 2006 | News
UVM WORKERS GET CONTRACT: Thanks for your help!On October 11, members of UE Local 267 ratified a three year agreement guaranteeing all members a minimum wage increase of 4% retroactive to July 1, 2006 and at least 4% in each of the nexttwo years. The contract was the...
by Media Team | Sep 26, 2006 | News
By Mike O’Day, Verizon Employee, CWA Local 1400 You may or may not have heard, but Verizon has put its land-based telephone operations in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine on the auction block. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, the sale could be worth...
by Media Team | Sep 26, 2006 | News
by Kim Lawson, VWC Hotline Coordinator Volunteers on the Workers Rights Hotline answer phone calls from workers who are feel they have been mistreated on the job. We get all sorts of questions. Some questions are asked often and are easy to answer. For example: Q: Can...
by Media Team | Sep 26, 2006 | News
by Samuel Maron and Ryan Bess Winnick Hesitant to admit success, but determined to embrace the eminent possibilities of the Basic Needs Task Force proposals, members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) at UVM are both earnest and prepared. Ready for the...
by Media Team | Sep 21, 2006 | News
Published: Sunday, September 3, 2006Burlington Free Press (versions also published in Times Argus and other VT newspapers) By James Haslam On the evening of Aug. 24, an unusual meeting took place. Burlington teachers, construction workers, University of Vermont...
by Media Team | Sep 21, 2006 | News
Student Labor Action ProjectStudents for Peace and Global JusticeRALLYSeptember 29thNOON on the steps of Waterman, UVMforLIVABLE WAGES FOR ALL!DIRECTLY EMPLOYED AND CONTRACTED WORKERS!Come celebrate the Basic Needs Task Force’s recommendation to the...
by Media Team | Jul 11, 2006 | News
Vermont Workers’ Center – Jobs With Justice Organizer Position Job Posting The Vermont Workers Center – Jobs with Justice has an opening for a full-time organizer to coordinate our workers’ rights and economic justice solidarity campaigns. Work in an...
by Media Team | Jul 5, 2006 | News
by Traven Leyshon, VWC Member On May 30th, leaders and activists from Vermont labor and community-based organizations met at the Vermont State Employees Association headquarters to craft an action campaign to build a powerful grassroots, labor-led movement for health...
by Media Team | Jun 26, 2006 | News
To Vitaliy Pristupa, an immigrant from the Ukraine looking for a job, it seemed like a reasonable deal at the time. A private school bus company would train Vitaliy so he could receive a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) at no cost, in exchange for Vitaliy’s promise...
by Media Team | Jun 26, 2006 | News
by Traven Leyshon, VWC Member On April 29th, Vermont union members joined the largest labor antiwar contingent ever in New York City. The spirited 15,000-20,000 trade union contingent came from across the country. Altogether, 350,000 people joined the March for Peace,...
by Media Team | Jun 26, 2006 | News
by: Katherine NopperLiving Wages–An Issue of Human RightsTwo years ago, a handful of students recognized a problem at the University of Vermont. Amidst major overhaul, both in terms of new building projects and progressive visioning over UVM’s future, conditions for...
by Media Team | Apr 4, 2006 | News
Burlington Free Press , Friday, March 31, 2006By Jill Fahy, Free Press Staff Writer A group of University of Vermont students, staff and labor rights activists rallied on campus Thursday to demand better wages and working conditions for university workers and...
by Media Team | Apr 4, 2006 | News
By James Haslam In a joint letter to the Associated Press (AP), Vermont Congressional delegation of Sen. Jim Jeffords, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Bernie Sanders expressed that they were “stunned, outraged and saddened by the summary dismissal” of longtime Vermont AP...
by Media Team | Feb 10, 2006 | News
Students at the University of Vermont, including more than 1,200 who signed the Good Jobs @ UVM petition this past semester, countless staff, faculty, Sodexho employees, housekeeping staff, maintenance workers, construction workers and others all stand together in...
by Media Team | Feb 3, 2006 | News
By Ellen David Friedman Listen to this commentary on VPR: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/vpr/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=872541 If Wal-Mart expands in Vermont – as it clearly intends to do – some will say this is great thing: New jobs and low...
by Media Team | Jan 24, 2006 | News
Organize to Win: Old North End Community Fights to Save Neighborhood Elementary SchoolsBy James Haslam, Director of Vermont Workers’ Center – Jobs With Justice When unions are at their best, workers are united – organizing with their fellow co-workers and crafting a...
by Media Team | Jan 3, 2006 | News
Teachers strike highlights health care crisis, need for unionsTimes Argus Op-Ed, December 14, 2005 By James HaslamThe teachers’ strike in Barre is just a dispute over who will shoulder more of the health care costs directly, the teachers or the school board....
by Media Team | Dec 23, 2005 | News
Many thanks to Workers Center members who rallied in support of the 170 Barre teachers during their eleven day strike. We know that unionized firefighters, municipal employees, state employees, electrical workers, UVM and state college employees — and of course...
by Media Team | Dec 21, 2005 | News
Shay TottenVermont GuardianDecember 21, 2005 BURLINGTON — A panel of legislative and ecumenical leaders heard testimony from dozens of Vermonters about the challenges they face with low pay, a lack of job security, no health care for their families, and how many...
by Media Team | Dec 14, 2005 | News
Times Argus Op-EdBy James Haslam The teachers’ strike in Barre is just a dispute over who will shoulder more of the health care costs directly, the teachers or the school board. This was the heart of a two-week long strike of teachers in Colchester in October....
by Media Team | Nov 3, 2005 | News
Op-ed in Rutland Herald and Burlington Free Press. By James Haslam The Colchester teachers strike was Vermont’s largest and longest strike in recent memory, a big-impact event that provoked wide-ranging discussion all over the state. After taking time to talk...
by Media Team | Sep 9, 2005 | News
By Colin M. Robinson ’06 The University of Vermont is in a time of both transition and great success. It is a time when national attention around the academics, the student body and the “Vision” of the University is at peak. The administration has...
by Media Team | Sep 2, 2005 | News
By James Haslam When we celebrate Labor Day, we celebrate the contributions of the hard-working families who get up every day to make society run. Postal workers deliver our mail, iron workers construct our buildings, firefighters and health care workers save our...
by Media Team | Jul 15, 2005 | News
By James Haslam – Published: July 15, 2005Montpelier Times-Argus For several years, there was a steady flow of calls to the Workers’ Center’s Workers Rights Hotline from workers in downtown Montpelier. All kinds of workers in all kinds of workplaces...
by Media Team | Jul 5, 2005 | News
Brian McGroryBoston GlobeJuly 5, 2005 Their journey should have ended far better than it did. Last week, a group of Vermont bristle factory workers who are being dismissed from their jobs with a mere two weeks severance pay decided to come to Boston and make their...
by Media Team | Jun 24, 2005 | News
By Eesha Williams | Special to the Vermont Guardian BENNINGTON — Three Latino men at a gathering of about 40 supporters in Bennington Thursday said a Pennsylvania-based construction company had refused to pay them for weeks of work. Only one of the men spoke English....
by Media Team | Jun 20, 2005 | News
From the Montpelier Times-Argus: Published: June 19, 2005 Adnan Rashed spent years in exile when labor unions were outlawed in his native Iraq. The 56-year-old was a prime mover in the Workers’ Democratic Trade Union Movement, which was a giant thorn in the side...
by Media Team | Jun 19, 2005 | News
By Jonathan Kissam We are living in an era when the United States government, both at home and abroad, has committed itself to defending the fortunes of a very small group of people. The result of this is exorbitant military funding and the substitution of military...
by Media Team | Jun 18, 2005 | News
By Dawn Stanger I’m Dawn Stanger. I’m a Teamster who works up at United Parcel Service in Williston. I’m also vice president of the Vermont Workers’ Center. My fellow activists and I hope you will join our struggle, and there are sign up sheets...
by Media Team | Jun 17, 2005 | News
Brian McGroryBoston GlobeJune 17, 2005 If you ever wonder how it is that big business has earned such a bad name these days, look no further than a Boston-based venture capital company by the name of Capital Resource Partners. First, CRP, as it’s often known,...
by Media Team | Apr 2, 2005 | News
By Dawn Stanger Hello. I’m Dawn Stanger and I’m a Teamster. I work up at UPS in Williston. And I’m here representing folks from the Vermont Workers Center, and U.S. Labor Against the War – USLAW. The Workers’ Center is a coalition of...
by Media Team | Jan 25, 2005 | News
RECOVERY & RESISTANCE : Sit-In Strikers from Republic Windows & Doors in Chicago When: 7pm, Tues, Feb 3, 2009 Where: Billings North Lounge, 48 University Place, UVM, Burlington What: In December, 260 workers at Chicago’s Republic...
by Media Team | Aug 26, 2003 | News
Op-Ed in Burlington Free Press, August 26, 2003 By James Haslam The main reason people need unions is to have a voice about their working conditions. As the saying suggests, “united we bargain, divided we beg.” Organizing a union is the only way for...
by Media Team | Aug 1, 2003 | News
By James Haslam, Director, Vermont Workers’ CenterPublished in Labor Notes, August 2003 For the nurses of Vermont’s largest hospital, Fletcher Allen, three times was not the charm. The more than 1,200 registered nurses of the hospital had tried unsuccessfully to...
by Media Team | Jun 21, 2003 | News
The Fletcher Allen nurses reached a tentative agreement, moments before the rally this Saturday, June 21st (see their news release below)! Congratulations to all of the Fletcher Allen nurses! You were incredibly strong, committed and united through this whole struggle...
by Media Team | Jun 1, 2003 | News
June 2003, Op-Ed in Rutland Herald and Times Argus By Sue Lucas, RN, President of United Nurses & Allied Professionals Local 5109 at Copley Hospital As someone whose job is to heal people when they are sick and keep them healthy, my heart aches because our...
by Media Team | Apr 12, 2003 | News
From Livable Wage March and Rally, April 12, 2003 By Cindy BubrouskiHello! I’m Cindy Bubrouski. I’m an Instructional Assistant at Montpelier High School and have worked in that district for six years. I am also the president and chief negotiator of our...
by Media Team | Apr 12, 2003 | News
(to the tune of “Battle Hymn of the Republic”) Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the dayWhen we won’t just work for peanutsWe will work for decent paySo it’s time to stop complainingAnd draw action from our rageIn the fight for a...
by Media Team | Apr 12, 2003 | News
April, 2003 Op-Ed in Burlington Free Press By James Haslam, Director, Vermont Workers’ Center Vermont’s working people are facing the greatest economic crisis in recent memory. Workers in Vermont and around the country are working harder, longer, and more...
by Media Team | Jan 18, 2003 | News
Adopted at 1/18/03 Steering Committee Meeting WHEREAS, the Vermont Workers’ Center has, in its mission, already resolved to fight for economic justice for all workers; and, WHEREAS, the burdens and dangers of war would fall disproportionately on working people,...
by Media Team | Jan 18, 2003 | News
At Montpelier Antiwar Rally, January 18, 2003 By Jonathan Kissam Good afternoon. I bring greeting on behalf of the national executive board of the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America (UE). UE was the first national union to denounce this war,...
by Media Team | Dec 1, 2002 | News
Op-Ed In the Rutland Herald and Times Argus newspapers, December 2002 By James Haslam When workers organize to collectively bargain fair wages, benefits, and safe working conditions they are exercising a basic and important human right. They are struggling for dignity...
by Media Team | Oct 9, 2002 | News
VT AFL-CIO Press Release, October 9, 2002 Burlington – At the Vermont State Labor Council AFL-CIO Convention Saturday, September 14th James Haslam was awarded the Lena Brown Labor Award, Vermont’s top labor award. Haslam is the Executive Director of the...
by Media Team | Aug 31, 2002 | News
A poem dedicated to the Steering Committee of the Vermont Workers’ Center and performed at the 2nd Annual Burlington Labor Day Weekend Parade & Picnic at Battery Park August 31, 2002. By James Haslam All these plant closings keep going down.Town after...
by Media Team | Aug 28, 2002 | News
August 2002 By Dawn Stanger, Vermont Workers Center Steering Committee Member It’s only natural for employers to seek concessions from workers. Improvements in working conditions, wages, benefits and Vermont’s environment — all undermine profits. The...
by Media Team | Aug 1, 2002 | News
(That is, except Executives and Shareholders of Mega Corporations) Op-Ed in Rutland Herald, August 2002by James Haslam On August 6th the Rutland Herald ran an editorial “Back On Track” which began “President Bush signed legislation Tuesday giving him...
by Media Team | Feb 28, 2002 | News
Three commentaries by Workers’ Center Steering Committee member Dawn Stanger on the state budget crisis. An Op-ed from the Burlington Free Press, a “That’s the Way I See It” commentary from WNCS, and a statement from a February 28, 2002 rally...
by Media Team | Feb 22, 2002 | News
Op-Ed in Burlington Free Press, February 2002 By Tenaya Lafore, Vermont Workers Center Steering Committee Member In his Jan. 22 budget speech, Gov. Howard Dean proposed major cuts to health care and other essential public programs. In doing so, the governor threatened...
by Media Team | Jan 22, 2002 | News
Vermont Workers’ Center Statement on Budget Cuts, January 2002 We view the state budget cuts as an attack on the majority of Vermonters. There is no excuse for balancing the budget on the backs of those who are already suffering from the current recession when...
by Media Team | Jan 1, 2002 | News
By Tanya Waters, RN, Vermont Workers Steering Committee Member For-profit nursing homes have always had their critics, those that say that it is fundamentally wrong for corporations to make profits from the sick and dying. While in Vermont we do not have any...
by Media Team | Apr 1, 2001 | News
By James Haslam, Vermont Workers Center Director It’s become all-too-common that good jobs are leaving Vermont and getting shipped out of the country. Back in September, officials from Stanley Works announced they were shutting down their plant in Shaftsbury...
by Media Team | Feb 21, 2000 | News
On a gray winter day–the first of the seminar–about 100 protesters gather outside the hotel. The demonstration, organized by the Vermont Workers Center, includes not only union members, but church representatives, politicians and students. “We are...
