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: Unions Responding in Solidarity led by Karl Flecker, National Director of the Congress's Anti-Racism and Human Rights Department. The purpose of the course was to help rank and file trade unionists examine the changing demographics and new issues facing workers today, including water/trade, immigration, globalization, security, and migrant issues.
The Canadians got a chance to speak with Donna Iverson, a Burlington paraeducator and leader of the livable wage victory, and Vermont NEA staff and former director of the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, about the strategies and tactics used in the long struggle for livable wages in the Burlington school district. They also spoke with VWC Healthcare Organizer Erika Simard about the Healthcare Is a Human Right campaign, and, like most international visitors, expressed shock at the inhumane and inefficient and healthcare "system" in the U.S.
VWC Coordinating Committee member Jonathan Kissam gave them a walking tour of the Old North End, discussing the demographics and some of the neighborhood community struggles that the Workers' Center has been involved in, including supporting efforts to keep Lawrence Barnes school open.
Canadian Trade Unionists Visit VWC
St. Albans Messenger Article on Campaign
Health care as a human right?
Written By Michelle Monroe
Wednesday, 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 to VWC organizer Erika Simard.
VWC is a member-run organization best known for its worker’s rights hotline. This is the first time the organization has run a statewide, grass roots campaign. It was inspired, in part, by the number of calls concerning health care that are received on the hotline, Simard explained.
The initial phase of the campaign, which will culminate in a Sick Day at the state capitol on May 1, 2009, will focus on a survey of Vermonters beliefs about health care and experiences with the current health care system. VWC is also hoping to organize house parties where attendees will have the chance to view a shorter version of the Michael Moore film “Sicko.”
VWC plans to hold hearings on health care as human right, and to compile its survey results and hearing testimony into a written report. The intent, Simard said, is to put “the health care crisis on trial.”
Dozens of Vermonters have already signed on to be part of organizing committees around the state, according to Simard.
Those people will use their natural connections with neighbors, friends, family and co-workers to build a grass roots organization, Simard said.
Janice Santiago, a St. Albans resident who has signed on to help with the campaign, said she will probably start with her neighbors. “I think health care is a vital human need,” Santiago said.
“The effort is really to try to speak to people who haven’t been involved in politics before,” Colin Robinson of the Peace and Justice Center said.
The Peace and Justice Center (PJC) has joined with VWC for this campaign. The Center is currently focused on passing legislation guaranteeing paid sick leave for all Vermonters. According to information provided by the Peace and Justice Center, 66 percent of Vermont’s private employers do not offer paid sick leave, and 135,000 Vermont workers do not have paid sick days.
Traditionally, Robinson explained, PJC has focused its efforts on securing a livable wage. “The livable wage keeps going up because the cost of living keeps going up,” Robinson said. Until rising costs for health care, housing, energy and other necessities can be brought under control, a living wage may not be attainable, according to Robinson.
The campaign is not connected to the upcoming elections, Simard said. “We have a broader view that we’re working on,” she said. “Something needs to change,” Simard said, adding, “The only thing that really makes sense is to make it a human right and build from there.”
“The United States is the only ‘industrialized’ country that doesn’t provide health care as a right to every resident from cradle to grave,” VWC states in campaign literature.
Discussing the financing of health care, VWC points out that in order to cover the costs of providing health care to the uninsured, hospitals and other providers raise the fees charged to private insurers, which in turn raise their fees. “Establishing healthcare as a human right where universal coverage comes from an equitable system of taxes only makes sense. It would establish a system where we all pay what we can afford and everyone is covered,” VWC states.
July 14: Rally to Support Service Center Workers in St. Albans
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 14th. They are fighting for a fair first contract by August first and need as much community support as possible to demand that the companies respect this deadline and bargain now. These workers — the vast majority of them women — have waited long enough for decent wage increases and better benefits.
Monday July 14th 2008
2:00pm
Beginning at Tabor Building 75 Lower Weldon St, St. Albans then marching to Taylor Park in the center of town at 2:30pm.
More information about the workers' struggle is available at justiceatuscis.org.
Download a flier for the march and rally here (in PDF format).
Directions to the Tabor building in St. Albans where the rally will begin:
Directions (from I-89): Go straight off exit ramp through the light until you reach S. Main St. Make a right on S. Main St. Make a left onto Lower Weldon St. The address is 75 Lower Weldon St [ Google Map ].
Take One Action for Healthcare Is a Human Right This Summer
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 volunteering to take at least one action for the Healthcare is a Human Right campaign this summer:
workerscenter.org/healthcare/volunteer
Healthcare Campaign Begins
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 in 2005.
"Healthcare should not be a commodity and it should not be something that is tied to employment. It needs to be a basic public good, something that as a community we establish everyone has access to," says Simard.
This summer VWC members, volunteers and allies are conducting outreach to thousands of Vermonters in communities across the state, including conducting a Vermont healthcare survey to collect the voices of the healthcare crisis. Supporters, union members and new campaign activists have begun holding healthcare house parties with their friends and neighbors to learn about the campaign. In the Fall, there will be public healthcare human rights hearings with testimony of "healthcare horror stories" and on the right to health. On December 13th, the Workers' Center is holding a Human Rights Conference, in commemoration on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights held at the University of Vermont. In this process, the Workers' Center will be building the statewide action network capable of mobilizing thousands of Vermonters for the May 1st Healthcare is A Human Right Rally at the State House.
"Many Vermont policy makers say they agree that healthcare should be a basic right to all Vermonters and many even say they support single-payer healthcare in theory. But they say it is just not politically possible. So this campaign is to change that," says James Haslam, lead organizer/director of the Vermont Workers' Center. "Our goal is to begin a strategic reframing of healthcare as a basic human right and the healthcare crisis as a human rights emergency. Right now we have a segrated healthcare system, some people have great care and many go without the care they need because of the costs. Right now the insurance companies are focused on how to deny coverage. We need a system that is geared to keep people healthy."
If you are interested in learning more about getting involved, filling out a survey and helping getting more surveys filled out in your community and possibly holding a healthcare house party email erika@workerscenter.org or call Erika at 802-316-7827.