Victory for Tenants and BLCC on City Lead Ordinance

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 fifty supporters, including parents, tenants, union leaders, educators, faith community leaders and health professionals. We also delivered a letter of support for our modifications from the Alliance For Healthy Homes (see attached), a national non-profit organization that specializes in lead paint poisoning prevention. The meeting was long, but we stayed and it was totally worth it.

After hours of deliberation, they voted to pass the ordinance and add our modifications requiring no bare soil at the drip lines and posting a sign to let tenants and neighbors know when work that creates lead hazards is being done. (The new sign will be designed by the Burlington Lead Program and will have skull & crossbones and a big L to signify poisonous lead.) The Committee also passed a resolution to require City staff to explore more fully our suggested modifications for the citywide properties public database on lead paint history, and for requiring dust wipe tests to ensure that children are not exposed to lead dust hazards, and making a Lead Safe standard modeled after the Burlington Lead Program for rental units to have failed lead inspections twice. (The committee specified that the City must come back with the results of their further study on dust wipes by the end of Feb.) The full City Council is expected to vote on the ordinance on on January 5th.

Victory for Tenants, BLCC Coalition:
This was an important first victory for the Healthy Homes Coalition. We completely re-framed the debate, from what usually is a discussion between the City officials and the landlords (and the lines get blurry there, the chair of the Ordinance Committee is a well-known landlord) and brought voice to those--renters and low-income parents--who are usually excluded from the debate. Despite opposition from the Landlord's Association to the City's original proposal, we were able to strengthen the proposal. There is little doubt that if we were not there, what was passed would have been only a somewhat watered-down version of what the City proposed. Together, we have gotten closer to keeping our children as safe and healthy as possible. We are going to keep putting all kinds of pressure on the Council to pass the ordinance and then on the City to both enforce the ordinance as written and get the dust wipes put in, so that we can really start protecting kids.This victory also represents a significant achievement for the Burlington Livable City Coalition as nurses, educators, other union members, and community folks acted in solidarity to support these tenant rights initiatives in the broader struggle for making Burlington a truly livable city for everyone.

Next Steps: Thanks to everyone for your involvement to this point, we need to keep identifying people who care about this issue (you can forward this email to people you think would be interested and have them contact us), everyone should stay tuned about next steps to pass this ordinance at January 5th Council Meeting. Also, please mark your calendars for our next Burlington Livable City Coalition Meeting will be 6pm, January 13 at the VWC.

Human Rights Conference Draws 500 Participants

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 Remarks - James Haslam, Vermont Workers' Center

First off, I just have to say thank you to all the people who worked with us to make this event happen. We are very excited about the incredible broad-range of groups who came together for this event, many of these groups and individuals we have worked with for years, and many new groups and new faces, who we are just now getting to know and build relationships with.

..when I first started getting outraged by the injustice and suffering that pervades our society, I got really mad and fired up about it, but it took some time before I made the next big step, and I understood that it was not enough to recognize injustice, get mad and complain about it, that it was necessary to make change, become an agent of change. The myth is that the problems are so big that we can't do anything about them. What I have experienced is totally the opposite, that when people get together, there's an enormous impact we can make. We have seen people who have organized for workplace rights and won, very soon start wanting to organize for bigger things, for healthcare as a human right, to end domestic abuse, to end racism. As we learn that together we can take collective action to fight injustice and win improvements in our lives, tremendous amounts of possibilities unfold. At the Workers' Center we have been doing a tremendous amount of organizing with very few resources, and I believe we are only now scratching the surface for what is possible.

The other thing that I have come to learn is that it does start here with our own struggle for justice, our own family, our own neighborhood, our own community, but that we are all connected. Vermont is small, and this planet is actually not that big, the chain of activity that sustains and reproduces is a chain of interdependence. We have realized that we cannot only struggle for livable wages and organizing for rights on the job. The same interests that exploit workers, exploit the planet, make healthcare and anything they possibly can into a commodity to profit from.

So we started asking who benefits from the fact that healthcare is not a human right? Who benefits when workers are divided by race and immigration status? Who benefits from racism and other forms of oppression? It was only a few years ago that after Vermont passed civil unions, and afterwards the right-wing was able to use homophobia to get thousands of working class Vermonters to vote against their own economic interests. Increasingly, those same people will be pitting white Vermonters against undocumented Latino and Latina workers for jobs. We can't let them divide us. Right now public services and public sector jobs are in jeopardy because of budget shortfalls, and people like Governor Douglas will blame unions and public sector workers have it too good and are the problem. Meanwhile we continue to spend $700 million dollars a day on a totally bullshit war in Iraq. That is why we are committed to building a movement for fundamental change, one that is based on human rights, on human needs and ultimately that is based on solidarity.

At the Workers' Center we use that word a lot, solidarity. We have felt that solidarity is at the core of the labor movement, and I think ultimately to build a broad-based movement, solidarity is what it is all about. Solidarity and unity. We have inherited a world which is based on greed and the endless search for profit, and which is based on competition, selfishness and individualism. And right now, we are witnessing that this path is literally threatening the capacity to continue human life on the planet and we are possibly studying our own extinction. The parents we work with at Barnes Elementary School in the Burlington Livable City Coalition recently put up a quote on a mural outside the school that says "Sustainability is another word for Justice". I am motivated in working with you all to build this movement for fundamental change in our community because I believe that is critical for our kids' future. I was also thinking about that word community, we use that a lot too. I thought of what Gandhi once said when he was asked one time about what he thought about Western Civilization, and he said he thought it was a good idea. I think much of that is true about the word "community". Because how can we have a community when people are subjected to live in poverty? How can it be a community when people are divided by racism and homophobia? How can we call it a community when people do not feel safe, when people regularly suffer from domestic abuse and sexual violence? How can we have a community where kids from low-income families are growing up in rental housing that infested with toxic lead paint that creates permanent brain damage? How can we call it a community when healthcare is not a basic right to everyone, but a privilege to some?

That is why it is so important that we have come together for this conference, that we have learned about the broad range of struggles that we face and the justice we need to fight for in order to make our communities live up to that name.

I want to take a few minutes to let everyone know about some Workers' Center campaigns that I hope you can join us in. We've spent a lot of time thinking about how to do our work in a strategic way that facilitates convergence between our struggles and other struggles.

Of course, we must build a movement to guarantee the right of workers to organize, calling for passing the Employee Free Choice Act, and [supporting] the Fletcher Allen Techs [as they organize a union], their struggle like the nurses before them is one which is not only a workers' rights struggle, but their victory will mean safer patient care and a better hospital for the community..

One thing that we ask all of you to do, is join us in the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign. This campaign is not just about winning a single-payer universal healthcare system, though we believe that that is necessary. This campaign is about a vision of healthcare based not on profits, but on solidarity and community. A vision that encompasses not only the right to see a doctor when you need to, but the right to a comprehensive public health system that ensures that our homes are free of toxins, that we have access to mental health and recovery services when we need them, that victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence are given the support and safety that they need. This campaign is also about building enough power to make the changes that are necessary to realize that vision. The only way to build that power, and to change what is politically possible, is to have an enormous amount of people involved. We are planning on building a statewide network capable of winning and making HC a HR. In building this network, we have called for a major statewide rally on May 1st at 12 noon on the State House steps in Montpelier. We are asking each on of you to sign up today to come to that rally and help bring people with you. We will organize vans, busses, car pools, everything we can to bring as many people there as possible. Together we will have so many people at the State House people will no longer say that change is not politically possible, and we will have built a network of us connected throughout the state that will keep organizing until we have that system in place and we will keep organizing to make sure it works and stays working. We need to build a mass movement for healthcare as a human right, and all human rights for all people.

One of our major projects is to do that in here in Burlington is the Burlington Livable City Coalition, which works to make this community truly livable for all of its residents. For us it started with struggling for livable wages and workers' rights, with the concept that it made sense for for family supporting jobs and quality public services. We are working with the unions to act in solidarity, to support each others' struggles, to have nurses, teachers,UVM Service & Maintenance workers and UVM faculty, Howard Center, City Market workers all who are in difficult contract negotiations this year, to stand together. We are also working with a group of parents, tenants and educators to win real change on how the City addresses the lead paint that is still poisoning children, especially children of working-class parents in the Old North End. Ultimately, this campaign is about building power for the people who don't traditionally hold power in this city -- workers, tenants, people marginalized by race and class -- to win justice in every aspect of our lives; in the motto of the environmental justice movement, "justice where we live, justice where we play, justice where we work."

In our campaigns we talk a lot about building power. The process of how we build that power becomes an end in itself. This is the organizing tradition of Ella Baker, of leadership development, consciousness-raising, and intersectionality of issues and oppressions. The slow, patient, undramatic work of relationship building. Dealing with all the misdirected anger that exists between different parts of the community. This is why we have put a major effort over the past several years into popular education. In January and February we will be holding our third annual Solidarity School, a three-day intensive workshop for emerging labor and community leaders, which covers organizing, tactics and strategy, people's history and movement-building. This past year the Workers' Center also did a series of one-day workshops on Anti-racism & Building A Social Justice Movement. We had one hundred and seventy people participate and it was so successful that we are going to do it again in 2009, most likely in the fall.

A lot of temporary coalitions are put together for limited goals, such as a good contract or a change in public policy. We believe that we all need to be thinking about our coalition and alliance-building terms of how do we use this struggle as part of an overall strategy to build power? How do we begin to re-conceptualize our own work in a way that incorporates the goals of others, making us all stronger? How do we build a movement where we don't just support each other, but we work together strategically towards a shared vision of justice and human rights, one that is based on solidarity and community? We hope this conference has been a useful contribution to that process. So again, please sign the EFCA cards, make plans to join us on May 1st, and, most importantly, we hope everyone continues the dialogues between organizations and movements that we've had today.

BURLINGTON LABOR DAY CELEBRATION

Monday,
September 1st
PARADE
PICNIC
CONCERT
at 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 & Jerry's ICE CREAM at Battery Park

GREAT MUSIC: Utah Phillips Tribute Concert to Benefit the Vermont Workers' Center

This fun family event celebrates the contributions of working people in this state and unites Vermonters across workforces in the ongoing struggle to raise the standards in our communities. If your organization is interested in marching in the parade, call Maria at 658-3113 to register with the Labor Day Celebration Committee.

Tribute Concert: The concert is free with suggested donations to go to the Vermont Workers' Center, a working families organization located at 294 North Winooski Avenue. The Vermont Workers' Center has launched the Healthcare Is A Human Right Campaign and helps coordinate the Burlington Livable City Coalition.

Utah Phillips (1935 - 2008): the great folksinger, storyteller and labor activist, passed away this May. Utah performed extensively and tirelessly for audiences on two continents singing and collecting the songs of working people and the workers' movement for decades. He made two Grammy nominated albums with Ani Difranco called Fellow Worker and History Didn't Go Anywhere. Local bands and performers will include: John Holland, The Trout River Crew, Andy Lugo (Second Agenda), Electric Halo, Andy Schlatter, Nick Gruswitz, Julie Winn & Jonathan Kissam and many more. More info on concert call James at 861-2877

Livable Wage Victory for Burlington Food Service & Custodial Workers

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 livable wage by the end of the contract. This agreement is being celebrated as a ground-breaking victory. This is the second livable wage victory in less then a year, last fall the Burlington para-educators had the first livable wage victory in the Burlington Schools.

“It is incredibly exciting that after such a long struggle all the food service and custodial workers will receive a livable wage. Many of us struggle to make ends meet and work second jobs to get by,” says food service worker Sandy McAuliffe. “This a good step towards ensuring our families can meet their basic needs.”

The campaign for livable wages for Burlington food service and custodial workers has not been without struggle. It took three years of educating school board and community members, as well as organizing faith leaders, elected officials, other union members and hundreds of Burlington residents to show their support.

From the beginning of the campaign for livable wages, it was clear that in addition to being an issue of fighting poverty, it was also about gender wage inequity. This livable wage victory for food service workers finally helps to close the gender wage gap between municipal workers, who are guaranteed a livable wage by ordinance and are mostly men, and food service workers, who are predominately women and make less than a livable wage. “The fact that the food service workers are predominately women and were not guaranteed a livable wage was a clear example of gender wage inequity that is still all too pervasive in our society,” says Colin Robinson, Director of the Peace and Justice Center’s, Vermont Livable Wage Campaign. “It is wonderful that this inequity if finally being corrected within the Burlington school district.”

This livable wage success for food service and custodial workers helps to ensure that Burlington remains truly livable for more of its residents, however this is not the case for everyone. The Burlington Livable City Coalition (BLCC), a group of community organizations and unions that works to ensure Burlington is truly livable for all its residents, came together in part of this struggle. "The City of Burlington has been nationally recognized for being one of the most "Livable Cities In the Country", yet there are still thousands of families living in poverty and thousands of workers still being paid poverty wages. The Burlington School workers victory is a victory for the entire community. You cannot have a livable city without livable wages," says James Haslam, Director of the Vermont Workers' Center who helps coordinate the Burlington Livable City Coalition. "We know our city will be a better city when all the jobs pay real livable wages, when the children of this city are not forced to grow up in poverty, and when people can live in dignity. We thank the many people in this community who supported this fight and have joined the Burlington Livable City Coalition"

The agreement will bring food service and custodial workers up to a livable wage over the next four years. This livable wage victory comes of the heels of a livable wage victory for the Burlington para-educators last fall and is a huge step forward in making sure Burlington remains livable for all its residents.

See Burlington Free Press story "Burlington school workers earn new contracts" May 7, 2008

Livable Wages Now! Burlington Livable City Coalition Goes to School Board Meeting Feb 12th

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 Para-Educators and the BEA in November 2007, Food Service and some Custodial & Maintenance workers, members of AFSCME Local 1343, have been in negotiations for over a year.

At the School Board Meeting on Tuesday Feb 12th, members of the Burlington Livable City Coalition delivered this clear message to the Burlington School Board and Administration that Burlington School Support Staff deserve a Livable Wage.

See the video message "Livable Wages Now!" that we played at the Board Meeting.

See video clips of past School Board meeting delegations

To learn more read the "Report on Livable Wages in Burlington Schools" put out in June 2007. Among other things the report highlights the fact that no Food Service Workers in Burlington receive a livable wage.

Workers Across Burlington Show Their Support for Food Service Workers

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 locations across the city on January 28th and 29th. Members of AFSCME Local 1343, representing Burlington School Food Service workers and Service and Maintenance workers, have been in negotiations since January 2007 and working without a contract since June 30th, 2007. Despite the huge livable wage victory for Burlington School Para-Educators, represented by the Burlington Education Association, in November the food service workers in the Burlington Schools continue to work for less then a livable wage.

According to the Report on Livable Wages in Burlington Schools put out in June 2007 by the Peace and Justice Center’s Vermont Livable Wage Campaign and the Vermont Workers Center, no food service workers make the hourly livable wage, 43% earned $8.59/hr or less in 2005-2006 school year, and 94% of food service workers are women.

Dozens of nurses at Fletcher Allen Health Care, workers at City Market and the University of Vermont, as well had teachers, para-educators, food service workers and service and maintenance workers in the Burlington Schools wore Livable Wage buttons for the past two days.

LIVABLE WAGE Burlington Citywide Button Day - Monday, Jan. 28th

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 wage as they are in contract negotiations. Buttons can be picked up at the VT Workers' Center, 294 North Winooski Avenue or the Peace & Justice Center, 21 Church Street, Burlington.

More info call James at VWC at 861-2877 or Colin at PJC 863-2345 x8

Dec 10 Candlelight Vigil: Burlington Livable City Campaign

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 school district to do the right thing and pay a livable wage (including members of VT Workers' Center, Livable Wage Campaign, BEA, SLAP, UVM United Staff, AFGE, and Laborers). December 10th is recognized by the United Nations as International Human Rights Day – this action helps to bring to light that workers’ rights are human rights. It is a human right for a worker to meet their basic needs of food, housing, transportation, child care, health care and clothing – being paid a livable wage will allow for this.

“It is fitting that this contract negotiation is happening on Human Rights Day, we will hold this candlelight vigil because having livable wages is a fundamental human right,” said James Haslam, Director of the Vermont Workers Center, which helps coordinate the Burlington Livable City Coalition. “When Burlington food service workers receive a livable wage that is a victory for the entire community, and we need to move to where every worker in Burlington and across Vermont gets paid a livable wage.”

For the past three years the Food Service workers in the Burlington School District, members of AFSMCE Local 1343, have fought to receive a livable wage. However, despite the recent livable wage victory of the para-educators and the Burlington Education Association (BEA), the Food Services workers remain in negotiations with the Burlington School District.

“After our recent livable wage victory it is more important then ever that the Burlington School District will do the right thing and pay the food service workers a livable wage for their valuable work,” said Donna Iverson, an Edmunds Elementary School para-educator and leader of their recent victory.

According to the Report on Livable Wages in Burlington Schools put out in June 2007 by the Peace and Justice Center’s, Vermont Livable Wage Campaign and the Vermont Workers Center, no food service workers make the hourly livable wage, 43% earn $8.59/hr or less in 2005-2006 school year, and 94% of food service workers are women.

“As the school district continues to confront the issue of poverty in our schools, it is imperative that they make sure their employees make enough to meet their basic needs,” says Colin Robinson, Director of the Peace and Justice Center’s Vermont Livable Wage Campaign. “If the children of your own food service workers make so little that they qualify for free or reduced price lunch, you know you have progress to make in combating poverty.”

AFSMCE Local 1343 and the Food Service workers have been in negotiations since their contract ended on June 30th, 2007. No agreement was reached, however, indiciations that a livable wage settlement could happen soon.

Burlington Para-educators Reach Tentative Agreement!

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 Para-Educators have been working to make livable wages a reality. On behalf of the BEA, I would like to thank the hundreds of community members who have attended school board meetings, contacted school board commissioners, attended rallies, marches, attended the Labor Day parade, signed petitions in support of livable wages, wrote letters to the newspapers, and in countless other ways, supported our campaign for livable wages for our Para-Educators,” says Rebecca Smith, BEA President. “We encourage the community to continue to support the other school employees still in negotiations. We’d like to especially thank the Vermont Workers’ Center, the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign, and the other participants in the Burlington Livable City Coalition. The BEA is committed to working in collaboration to make Burlington a truly livable city.”

Stay tuned for next steps to support the rest of the Burlington School support staff still in negotiations, which includes the food service and custodial and maintenance workers. Having livable wages for all Burlington School staff will be a huge step forward for our community.

Solidarity for Midwives and Burlington School Support Staff

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 Campaign and Vermont Workers' Center attend Burlington School Board meeting to reiterate call for livable wages.

JOIN US TUESDAY For 2 Burlington Board Meetings

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 story ) ), now we need to make sure they follow through with it.

Burlington School Board Meeting: Its coming down to the wire, join us for this final push to establish livable wages for all school support staff. The best way to start fighting poverty and stopping paying poverty wages. Also, join us in supporting the proposal to take closing any of the Old North End elementary schools off the table

Burlington Community Demands Livable Wages

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 STAFF IS NOW”

September 11, 2007

Good evening. We would like to thank all of you as elected School Board representatives of the residents of Burlington. We are here tonight, also as representatives of the residents of Burlington to deliver a statement to our School Board regarding the longstanding efforts to establish livable wages for all school support staff in our schools. Our delegation represents the major stakeholders in this community.

[Read by Martha Ahmed, RN from Fletcher Allen Health Care, UPV/AFT Local 5221]

We include school support staff, paraeducators, food service workers, service and maintenance workers, teachers, parents, taxpayers, Fletcher Allen Nurses, UVM students, City Councilors, State Representatives, and leaders of the faith community.

[Read by State Representative Joey Donovon]

We are here tonight to deliver a message you have heard before. You have heard it in many different ways. Hundreds of others have come before many previous School Board meetings over the last 3 years to say the same thing. We have been coming before some of you were even elected to this Board. Thousands of Burlington residents and school staff have signed petitions, wrote letters to you and to the newspaper, we have called you and sent you emails, we have worn buttons and rallied with signs. We know you know what our message is, but we are not sure you have really heard us. The time for livable wages for all school staff is now.

[Read by Donna Iverson, Burlington school paraeducator, BEA member]

On a June 25, 2007 you received a Report on Livable Wages in Burlington Schools: How to Address Poverty in Our Community & Reverse Gender Wage Inequity”. It was produced by the Vermont Livable Wage Campaign and Vermont Workers’ Center and supported by dozens of current and former elected officials, UVM faculty, parents, faith and other community leaders. Unfortunately, then July came and all of the school support staff contracts expired. Then July past, then August and there was still no contract and no livable wages for our school support staff. Now the next school year is underway, and still nothing. So we would like to ask you all to read the report again, but as a reminder we will read a couple of parts:

[Read by Angela Diguilio, UVM Student, SLAP and VT Workers’ Center member]

“Paying livable wages will help reduce poverty. Economic inequality erodes our communities and contributes to the race to the bottom for all workers. In order for Burlington to be a livable city for all residents, employers must pay wages sufficient to meet a person’s basic needs.

[Read by Tim Ashe, Burlington City Councilor]

“Some students have parents who are Burlington School District employees and are forced to work two or even three additional jobs to make ends meet. Parents working two or three jobs do not have adequate time to spend with their children in support of their education at home. Now is the time for the Burlington School Board to do its part in solving the underlying problem by paying livable wages to all school support staff.

[Read by Kaarin Goncz, Burlington high school teacher, BEA]

For Burlington to be a truly livable city, all residents must earn a livable wage. Paying livable wages to our school employees would actually stimulate the economy because low-income families typically spend most of their money on local goods and services, keeping the money in the community. More livable wage jobs mean a stronger local economy, healthier families, and more equitable education opportunities.”

[Read by Rev. Gary Kowalski, Unitarian Universalist Church of Burlington]

The report also points out that of all of the school and city employees now not earning a livable wage, the vast majority are women. Many of these school support staff positions have been historically undervalued jobs, and have historically been done by women. Every single food service worker is a women and every single one does not earn a livable wage. Everyone deserves livable wages and we must end this gender inequity.

[Read by Sandy McAuliffe, Burlington school food service worker, AFSCME Local 1343]

As we just passed Labor Day we are reminded that this struggle is not a new one. In 1912, 30,000 women and young girls working in Massachusetts textile sweatshops including many Vermont farm girls, went on strike. It was called a “Bread & Roses” Strike. They were fighting to increase their meager wages that left them in poverty. But they called it Bread & Roses, because they not only needed to eat, but they deserved to live with a basic level of dignity as human beings and to enjoy life. At this very moment there are school support staff that are working their second or their third job just to try to squeak by each month. In 95 years since this strike, we have come a long way, but employers are still paying poverty wages. Burlington school support staff workers deserve bread and sustenance, and they deserve roses and dignity, too. We ask you to take responsibility as representatives of this community by making livable wages not just a priority but a reality in Burlington Schools now. Thank you.

[Read by Karl LaBounty, Burlington school service & maintenance worker, President AFSCME Local 1343]

Livable Wages at Burlington Schools

Rally for Livable Wages at Burlington School Board Meeting
6:30pm - 7:30pm, Tues, June 12th
HO Wheeler School, (corner of Archibald and Elmwood Ave)

Last year the VT Workers' Center, VT Livable Wage Campaign, Student Labor Action Project and local Burlington unions began a campaign to truly make Burlington a livable city for everyone. There have been efforts over the last few years to establish livable wages in Burlington Schools and the University of Vermont. This coalition has brought together construction workers, teachers, nurses, utility workers, restaurant workers and people working all types of jobs to make sure no job in Burlington pays poverty wages. The Burlington School Board has raised the important discussion of the impact of poverty on students through their Socio-economic Integration proposals. If they truly believe in eliminating the barriers of poverty for students, here's a great place to start -> STOP PAYING POVERTY WAGES TO YOUR WORKERS!

Get the facts about Livable Wages at the Vermont Livable Wage website

Also learn more at the Burlington Education Association website

To learn more about Burlington Coalition for a Livable City email James Haslam at james@workerscenter.org

UVM Livable Wage Figures Misleading, Gap Still Remains

By Angela DiGiulio and Martine Burtis, UVM Students and Members of UVM Student Labor Action Project (SLAP)

On Friday April 27th, twelve UVM students from the Student Labor Action Project ended a five day hunger strike to urge the University to adopt livable wages for all workers on campus. The information presented on current compensation packages as well as subsequent media coverage, confused the message on whether UVM is paying a livable wage or not. Some of the media also incorrectly characterized our response to new wage calculations as "being confused" or "unaware" of current wages at UVM.

The reality at UVM is that a gap still exists between the lowest paid UVM workers and a livable wage. Also, other workers contracted by the University to work in our cafeterias or to construct new buildings on campus make less than a livable wage.

In the spring of 2006, a taskforce convened to study the livable wage issue and to examine the current compensation package at UVM compared to current livable wage figures published by the Joint Fiscal Office (JFO). The taskforce issued a well documented study that adjusted the livable wage, to account for unique benefits offered by UVM. The taskforce found that the livable wage figure for UVM would be $12.28/hr.

Shortly thereafter, President Fogel announced that a recent contract with service and maintenance workers set a base wage of $10.60/hour that was close enough to the livable wage figure. At that point, Fogel stopped being willing to work talking with members of SLAP regarding the taskforce's livable wage figure.

As a result, this April SLAP constructed a tent city in front of Royal Tyler Theater to bring more attention to the remaining wage gap at UVM. This was the second tent city in two years to raise awareness on about livable wage issues. With no movement from the Administration, we began a hunger strike on April 23rd.

In response, the University called upon the Vermont Joint Fiscal Office to calculate a livable wage adjusted for UVM's benefits. Unfortunately, once we had time to review the calculations, we found that JFO had deviated from the methodology mandated by the legislature by deducting the value of benefits that are not included in the basic needs budget. For example:

1) Tuition Remission. UVM offers tuition remission for employees who wish to take courses as individuals or wish to send their children to UVM. However, there is no education expense included in the basic needs budget assumptions that UVM's tuition remission program can offset. Thus you cannot lower the livable wage figure based on this benefit. Moreover, while tuition is a major expense for some people, does not help someone meet their basic needs. You cannot eat tuition!

2) Long-Term Disability Insurance. Again, this is a valuable benefit for UVM workers, but the basic needs budget does not include any such cost in its assumptions.

3) Retirement and Health Care. The revised JFO livable wage figure also contained miscalculations when comparing UVM's retirement and health care benefits to the basic needs budget.

In summation, the revised figures produced by JFO and presented to SLAP and the Administration are not true to the approved methodology. We were not confused, especially upon reviewing the newest variation of the calculations, about our commitment to demanding that UVM adopt livable wages and close the wage gap once and for all.

We continue to support the findings and recommendations of the taskforce. Indeed, it is clear that a significant wage gap still remains at UVM. We would like to clearly state that UVM still needs to address livable wage and workers' rights issues on campus, some of which they have tried to ignore. Perhaps most importantly, UVM also has not addressed the issue of contracted workers-the poorly paid Sodexho workers (starting pay is around $8/hr or $9/hr) or wages of the numerous construction workers working on building projects on campus. Currently, there are no guidelines or standards for how the workers UVM contracts are treated. UVM has made the choice to contract out jobs, like food service workers, and they have been resisting setting any standards to how those workers are treated. UVM has established "green building" standards on all their new construction. We are asking them to adopt fair employment standards for every contractor they hire.

We call upon UVM to uphold their social justice mission and principles and make a good faith effort to reopen discussions on livable wages. To really fulfill the claims that UVM is one of the "best employers in Vermont," "committed to sustainability" and upholds social justice principles, it must look honestly at what is paid to all workers-contracted and non-contracted workers-and make sure people can meet their basic needs.

Based on partial data from the State, the Vermont Guardian reported in 2005 that 161 UVM workers received public assistance. Hundreds of contracted workers are forced to rely on public assistance, because of the low-wages paid by UVM's contractors such as Sodexho. In the end, UVM can either pay their workers a livable wage or shift the cost to taxpayers.

More info on Student Labor Action Project at UVM

A Truly Memorable Annual Dinner & SLAP ends Hunger Strike

By James Haslam
On Sunday April 29th over 150 people came from all over Vermont to the Old Labor Hall in Barre to celebrate the 9th Anniversary of the Vermont Workers' Center - Jobs With Justice. For folks who couldn't make it, I'm happy to report that we'll have video excerpts on our BlipTv website very soon, and they are worth watching, especially Elaine Bernard and the three Iraq Veterans Against the War. The best way I can describe the experience, is to say that the Workers' Center dinner brings all kinds of great people together, some of whom have just met or don't see each other except this once a year celebration, so there is often a small degree of quiet chatter that goes on during the event, even when it is time for listening. But for the entire time the veterans were speaking you could of heard a pin drop, as people were capitivated with their horrific accounts of what they had seen and their new fight to end the war immediately.

Below, speaking Iraq Vets Against the War members Drew Cameron (Burlington, VT) with Adrienne Kinne (Sharon, VT) and Matt Howard (Burlington, VT).


And Elaine Bernard was really inspirational, be sure to stay tuned for us to get the video online.


We honored all the Solidarity School graduates, COTS workers and Verizon workers fighting to Stop The Sale. We were also proud to honor(AND FEED!!) a big group of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) folks who ended their hunger strike for livable wages last Friday. What they have been doing over the last three years leading up to the hunger strike has been amazing. The amount of public education about livable wages, social justice and solidarity was truly enormous as their fight became known widespread in the community and throughout the country. The rally on Friday was awesome, uniting UVM workers, multiple local unions, community members and more and more students have become involved in this movement for livable wages and workers' rights. We look forward to work SLAP in the many more battles ahead at UVM, as we make the entire City of Burlington and State of Vermont truly livable for everyone.

By the way, anyone who saw the Free Press and/or WCAX coverage of the end of the hunger strike likely had a similiar reaction that I did, one of confusion and mixed with a good deal of anger (the one very notable exception was the great article in Vermont Guardian). It was really negatively spun and not entirely accurate, but a big part of this was due to the fact that Legislative Joint Fiscal Office (JFO) produced some very misleading numbers discounting what UVM's livable wage should be and basically acted as the UVM Administration's spin doctor to help them justify paying below the livable wage. Since the JFO itself calculates these basic needs numbers, when this information was presented to the students it obviously led to confusion. We are working with the VT Livable Wage Campaign and Doug Hoffer (see his report) to get the real facts out, mainly that things like higher education benefits and disability benefits cannot be used to discount the basic needs budget when those costs are not part of the basic needs formula. Or as UVM Service & Maintenance workers' union, UE Local 267 put it, "you can't eat benefits".

Here's what SLAP had to say when they ended the strike.

Excerpt from SLAP Statement ending the Hunger Strike: "We have emerged from this struggle victorious – we began following a blatant denial by the administration that compensation for underpaid workers on this campus was an issue, and we ended with a commitment by the administration to continue working on this issue and a videotaped statement by Fogel that the livable wage issue will be significantly considered moving forward.

This is not the end. We will continue to promote and defend the rights of the under-compensated workers on this campus, today, tomorrow, and at everyday into the future. We have secured a firm commitment by the administration to put a renewed focus and effort on this issue. And we will remain vigilant in ensuring that the administration follows through on their promise.

The end of the hunger strike marks a significant and measurable victory in the history of equitable compensating on this campus. We hope to open a new chapter in negotiations with the administration, and will ensure that they follow up on the promises they made today.

We want to thank the entire UVM and Burlington community for their outpouring of support during this challenging protest, and wish to assure everyone involved that we have emerged with a significant victory that addressed the reasons for which the hunger strike began."

Support SLAP Hunger Strikers At UVM

Twelve members of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) started a Hunger Strike on April 23rd demanding livable wage policies at University of Vermont. For the past two years, SLAP has been fighting for livable wages for all UVM staff and policies to ensure that all UVM contractors pay workers at least a livable wage. They have also been fighting fair employment policies to protect workers' right to organize and responsible contractor policies specifically for construction projects.

Here is link to TAKE ACTION:


Solidarity Activities This Week:
WEDNESDAY: Call-in day, everyone call or email President Fogel and tell him to pay livable wages now! daniel.fogel@uvm.edu, (802) 656-7878

THURSDAY: Solidarity fast! Commit to fasting for the day to show solidarity with the strikers.

FRIDAY: Large rally on the steps of Waterman at noon! South Prospect Street

SUNDAY: Come honor their determination at VWC Anniversary Dinner 5pm, Old Labor Hall, Barre (See details below)

Monday's Burlington Free Press Front Article & On-line Poll

Free Press Coverage of Day 2

UVM Student Labor Action Project Website

150+ brave weather to March For Livable Wages!

Calling for livable wages and public policies that produce real family supporting jobs, over over one-hundred and fifty community members with representatives of over a twenty different local unions march and rallied thoughout Burlington on Saturday.

The rally started at HO Wheeler Elemntary School where Burlington School Custodian Karl Labounty and other school support staff spoke about their fight for livable wages. The contracts for the Burlington School custodians, food service workers and paraeducators expire at the end of June. Stay tuned to help in this struggle for livable wages..

The March went down Church Street, where hundreds of people work in multi-national corporations who could easily afford a livable wage. Note the delegation of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) in the photo. SLAP has been leading a multi-year campaign to establish livable wages for all UVM employees and workers at UVM working for contractors like Sudexho. Stay tuned for developments in this struggle. Next the march headed to the Verizon Building on Main Street to to rally to stop the sale of Verizon (www.stop-the-sale.org ).
And then up the hill to UVM..

Outside Tent City Student Labor Action Project leader Kat Nopper speaks to the crowd about the campaign for livable wages and fair employment policies at one of Vermont's largest employers. UVM has been spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new construction, and the VWC and SLAP has been leading a campaign to get the administration to care about the quality of jobs they are creating to build these buildings. To learn more abou the Burlington Livable City Campaign email james@workerscenter.org.

180+ Attend February 19th 2007 Vermont Workers Rights Board Hearing

Burlington - No amount of snow could hold back over one hundred and eighty people attending the 2007 Vermont Workers Rights Board (WRB) Hearing on “The Race To The Bottom” at Burlington City Hall. Organized by the Vermont Workers Center and Vermont Livable Wage Campaign, over two dozen people testified from a broad range of different jobs, including local school support staff workers, nurses, teachers, restaurant staff, construction workers and people who work for UVM, Verizon, COTS and other large local employers.



While hearing the many stories of the struggles of people trying to support their families on poverty wages and the impact on losing their jobs to corporate globalization, the emphasis on the evening was on pushing for positive change. The Burlington Livable City Coalition includes a broad range of local unions and community organizations who are committed to truly making Burlington work for everyone. With active campaigns to establish livable wages for all staff and contracted workers at UVM, school support staff workers in Burlington, including paraeducators, cafeteria workers and custodial staff fighting for livable wages, efforts to establish Responsible Contracting construction policies at local public institutions, legislation to increase the Tipped Worker Wage and to protect all workers falling under the Vermont labor law have the right to organize – the fight to reverse the race to the bottom is on. Email info@workerscenter.org to find out how to get involved.


WRB members included Sen. Bernie Sanders, Burlington Mayor Bob Kiss, Rabbi Joshua Chasan, Rev. Roddy O’Neil Cleary from the Burlington Unitarian Universalist Church, Rev. Michael Cronahue, Society of St. Edmundites, State Rep. Mark Larson (D-Burlington), State Rep. Floyd Nease (D-Johnson) , State Rep. Helen Head (D-S. Burlington) , State Rep. Chris Pearson (P-Burlington), State Rep. Jason Lorber (D-Burlington), State Rep. Rachel Weston (D-Burlington), State Rep. Johanna Leddy Donovan (D-Burlington), State Sen. Diane Snelling (R-Chittenden) and Burlington City Councilors Jane Knodell and Tim Ashe.

Media coverage:

Channel 3 - CBS news (with video)

Burlington Free Press

Audio of Vermont Workers' Center TV Show

COTS board needs to do the right thing

COTS board needs to do the right thing
Burlington Free Press
Published: Tuesday, December 12, 2006

By James Haslam

Here’s the point that the Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS) Board of Directors and some others have missed, the vast majority of the 46 COTS employees have already formed a union. Back in October they asked the COTS Board to recognize them as a union after over 80 percent signed up to join the UE (see COTS workers unhappy, BFP Nov 11), and when the Board refused and voted for a community election, on December 6th the COTS staff demonstrated support for their union by a vote of 31-2 (see COTS Workers Vote For Union, BFP Dec 7).

I have talked to a great many community members about this situation. Overwhelmingly, there's a great deal of respect for the work carried out by COTS. Many people closely familiar with the day-to-day work of the organization have commented that they are not surprised that the workers organized having sensed growing frustration of staff over a long period of time.

Some people, however, have wondered why would workers need a union at a nonprofit organization like COTS and a few have gone so far as to suggest that it is not a good idea (Bob Duncan's My Turn "Should COTS Workers Unionize?" Free Press, Dec. 2 and Sen. Hinda Miller's "Union is most expensive remedy," Free Press, Dec. 6). But they have missed the point, and the situation at COTS could perhaps help provide this community with good lessons about basic principles of social justice and democracy.

Every worker deserves respect. The right of workers to organize is a basic principle of democracy. It is not just an important right for some workers. Given our bare bones laws that scarcely protect workers, unions often make sense in every industry.

So how does a union help strengthen an organization? By providing better working conditions and job security there is less turnover and people are far less scared to point out big problems in the organization. This makes the organization healthy. Union nurses advocate for better patient care because they can without fear of retaliation. COTS workers have decided to form a union to advocate for needed improvements in the organization and in the critical service they provide to this community. Now they will be able to do so without fear of being fired. They will work on more of an even playing field, and COTS will be a stronger organization because of it.

If the COTS board had simply respected their staff's request back in October, imagine how different this story would be. This would not be a union "conflict" or "dispute". There would not be dozens of newspaper articles, letters and TV coverage devoted to this story. COTS would be solely focused on providing their important services and getting the message out to the community about the importance of donating to support this work.

As a social-justice organization, the COTS Board needs to stand by principles of workers' rights. If you believe in social justice and workers' rights for people, except when it comes to your own employees, you don't believe in workers' rights. The right to organize is a basic principle of democracy. If one is to believe in this basic right, it is by recognizing workers rights to make that decision for themselves.

COTS staff said they were willing to affirm their decision in a union election, and they did overwhelmingly. They do not want to have the board continue to drag this out. Now they are asking the board to respect their choice, negotiate a mutually agreed upon fair contract and get back to focusing on the important work they do everyday.

It is a real shame if the COTS board of directors continues to choose to unnecessarily make this a conflict and divert resources and energy away from the COTS staff's ability to best serve and advocate for their clients. It's time that COTS does the right thing by its employees, its clients and the community in which it does business. It's time COTS recognize the employees' organization and begin bargaining a Union contract.

James Haslam is the director of the Vermont Workers' Center -- Jobs With Justice. If you have questions or to learn more about workers' rights in Vermont email info@workerscenter.org.

Verizon Forum a Success, UVM Wokers get contract and more

1. 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 culmination of seven months ofbargaining during which UE members wore stickers and buttons andparticipated in a number of rallies. With the support of students, faculty, staff and the community,the local was successful in making some significant stridestoward a Livable Wage. Under the Agreement all current workers will be making a minimum of $11.46 per hour by the third yearof the contract. According to UE Local 267 President Carmyn Stanko, "While thiscontract represents a number of important victories for ourmembers, we will continue to work with students, staff, facultyand the community to implement a full Livable Wage for all UVM workers. We will also continue our coalition work with otherBurlington Unions to make Burlington a Livable City."Last spring UE members supported students in the constructionand occupation of the Livable Wage Tent City on the green andhave been working in solidarity with the UVM Student LaborAction Project (SLAP), the Workers' Center and other localunions and community organizations. To learn more about how toget involved with the Burlington Labor Coalition's Livable CityCampaign, send an email to info@workerscenter.org

2 -VERIZON FORUM SUCCESS: Over 90 people came out to lastweek's Public Forum on Impact of Verizon Leaving Vermont - "WillVermont's Information Superhighway Be Turned Into a Dirtroad?" The panel and discussion were facilitated by Congressman BernieSanders and included other Vermont Workers' Rights Board membersRabbi Joshua Chasan, Rep. Helen Head (D - S. Burlington), Rep.Mark Larson (D - Burlington), Rep. Floyd Nease (D - Johnson), Katherine Nopper - UVM student leader/SLAP and Rep. David Zuckerman(P-Burlington). Also on the panel were Chris Campbell -Direcetor of Telecom, Dept of Public Service, Maureen Connelly -Economic Development Council, Northern VT and Beth Fastiggi,Verizon spokesperson. There was an outstanding turnout of Verizon workers and their families giving powerful testimony. Concerned community members drove from as much two hours away toexpress their dismay about increasing the digital divide.Vermont has seen too many good jobs disappear, this time,because Verizon is a regulated utility we can fight to keep these jobs and access to broadband to our rural communities.Stay tuned how to get involved. To learn more about thiscampaign and see photos and testimony from the Forum go to:http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/4dqkb361quuT/

COMING ACTION & EVENTS: Oct 20: UVM SLAP's 'Festivus - Livable Wages for the Rest of Us"SLAP is leading the fight for livable for all workers at UVM,actual employees and contracted workers. They invite you to come have fun and protest for livable wagesfor all campus workers with FREE FOOD and MUSIC! Friday October20th 3:30-6:00 at the UHights amphitheater. Presented by theStudent Labor Action Project and Students for Peace & GlobalJustice. Rain site to be announced if necessary. Contact uvmslap@riseup.net for more info

Nov. 1: UVM Basic Needs Bake Sale #2 . On Weds, November 1, from9:00am-2:00pm in front of the Bailey-Howe Library on the UVMmain campus. UVM Staff are hoping to raise awareness and raiseconsciousness about livable wage issues on campus. Come one,come all for some yummy affordable treats and some gooddiscussion of livable wages at UVM. Sponsored by United StaffCampaign Organizing Committee.

Nov. 3: Rally at UVM 12 noon, Friday, Nov. 3rd outside theWaterman Building. The Student Labor Action Project (SLAP) hasset this date as a deadline goal for UVM President Fogel toapprove the Basic Needs Task Force recommendations to establishlivable wages for all UVM employees and contracted workers atthe university.

HEALTHCARE SHOULD BE A RIGHT: If you haven?t yet, please signthe petition: http://www.unionvoice.org/ct/41qkb361quuY/